Identification

Title

Global atmospheric distribution of microplastics with evidence of low oceanic emissions

Abstract

Recent investigations based on sea–air transfer physical mechanistic studies suggest that the global ocean’s contribution to atmospheric microplastic emissions is significantly lower (four orders of magnitude) than previously estimated. However, no atmospheric models or observations have yet validated this lower emission flux, leaving the analysis without adequate validation and practical significance. Here, we provide quantitative estimates of the global atmospheric microplastic budget based on this reduced oceanic flux. Our model aligns well with observed atmospheric microplastic concentrations and suggests that the ocean functions more as a sink than a source, contributing only ~0.008% of global emissions but accounting for ~15% of total deposition. This challenges the previous view of the ocean as the primary atmospheric microplastic source, urging a reassessment of pollution mitigation strategies.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7p55sw4

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2025-02-28T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;font-style:normal;" data-sheets-root="1">Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</span>

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact