Articles | Volume 2, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/ar-2-235-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/ar-2-235-2024
Research article
 | 
22 Jul 2024
Research article |  | 22 Jul 2024

Vertical concentrations gradients and transport of airborne microplastics in wind tunnel experiments

Eike Maximilian Esders, Christoph Georgi, Wolfgang Babel, Andreas Held, and Christoph Karl Thomas

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Cited articles

Allen, D., Allen, S., Abbasi, S., Baker, A., Bergmann, M., Brahney, J., Butler, T., Duce, R. A., Eckhardt, S., Evangeliou, N., Jickells, T., Kanakidou, M., Kershaw, P., Laj, P., Levermore, J., Li, D., Liss, P., Liu, K., Mahowald, N., Masque, P., Materić, D., Mayes, A. G., McGinnity, P., Osvath, I., Prather, K. A., Prospero, J. M., Revell, L. E., Sander, S. G., Shim, W. J., Slade, J., Stein, A., Tarasova, O., and Wright, S.: Microplastics and nanoplastics in the marine-atmosphere environment, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 3, 393–405, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00292-x, 2022. a
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Brahney, J., Hallerud, M., Heim, E., Hahnenberger, M., and Sukumaran, S.: Plastic rain in protected areas of the United States, Science, 368, 1257–1260, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz5819, 2020. a, b
Bullard, J. E., Ockelford, A., O'Brien, P., and McKenna Neuman, C.: Preferential transport of microplastics by wind, Atmos. Environ., 245, 118038, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.118038, 2021. a, b
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Short summary
Our study explores how tiny plastic particles, known as microplastics (MPs), move through the air. We focus on their journey in a wind tunnel to mimic atmospheric transport. Depending on the air speed and the height of their release, they move downwards or upwards. These results suggest that MPs behave like mineral particles and that we can expect MPs to accumulate where natural dust also accumulates in the environment, offering insights for predicting the spread and impacts of MPs.
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