Study finds how oceans release microplastics into atmosphere
In order to reach the Arctic region, the researchers collected air samples from several points along the Norwegian coast. The recent publication of the findings in the academic journal Nature Communications. «With our study, we present data on the mass load of different types of plastic in the marine atmosphere for the first time,» said Isabel Goßmann, a doctoral candidate at the University of Oldenburg's Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM) and first author of the paper.
The research team collected the samples during an expedition with the Research Vessel Heincke in 2021. The northernmost destination was Bear Island, the most southerly island of the Svalbard archipelago which lies halfway between the mainland and the archipelago's largest island, Spitsbergen. The team used two different devices to collect air samples.
The devices were actively pumped in the air and were mounted on the bow of the research vessel at a height of twelve metres. The scientists analysed the air samples using pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. With this method they were able to identify and quantify the different types of plastics in the atmosphere through thermal degradation and selective analysis.
They then performed model calculations and reconstructed the sources and distribution paths of the particles, each of which is just a few thousandths of a millimetre in size. The analysis revealed the omnipresence of polyester particles. Polyethylene terephthalate particles, which presumably entered the atmosphere in the form of textile fibres, were detected in all samples.
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