Microplastics. They’re in the soil; they’re in the ocean; and they’re even in the air, poised to invade our respiratory systems and to harm our health. But how, exactly, do they make their way into the atmosphere?
Some studies have suggested that these tiny pieces of plastic — at most around 5 millimeters across — take to the air from the ocean. Ocean spray shoots them into the atmosphere, these studies say, positioning these minuscule pollutants to enter our bodies when we breathe. But a new paper published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science suggests that the ocean may absorb more airborne microplastics than it introduces.
“The ocean functions more as a sink than a source,” the authors stated in the study. “This challenges the previous view of the ocean as the primary atmospheric microplastic source, urging a reassessment of pollution mitigation strategies.”
