In toothpaste, clothing, in the oceans and even the atmosphere: plastic surrounds us. Instead of dissolving, it breaks down into smaller and smaller particles. Researchers can now detect so-called microplastics in almost every corner of our planet. A research team from the University of Vienna has now calculatedthat the global amount of microplastics could be significantly lower than previously thought.
The researchers write in the specialist journal Naturethat, according to their models, the microplastics in the atmosphere could be between 100 and 10,000 times less than scientific studies previously assumed. Particles that are usually between one and five micrometers in size are considered microplastics. A micrometer is one thousandth of a millimeter.
“The study shows that global microplastic concentrations in the atmosphere are lower than previously thought,” says Ankush Kaushik, research assistant at the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research in Leipzig.
The team led by lead author Ioanna Evangelou used measurements from previous studies from 2014 to 2024 and from more than 280 locations worldwide. For their study, the researchers used concentration and deposition rates of microplastics from the atmosphere. In the next step, they simulated different models to compare the values on a global scale.
Nevertheless: an enormous amount of microplastics – and nanoplastics
On average, the air over land was twenty times more enriched with microplastics than over the sea. According to the study, plastic particles on land are mainly produced by industry and tire wear from cars. The team estimates that about 610 quadrillion – that’s 610 million billion – of microplastic particles are released from land into the atmosphere every year. In short: a lot. Nevertheless, this result is significantly below the number of previous studies.
Ankush Kaushik, who also researches microplastics at the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research but was not involved in the current study, says: “The results should be communicated with caution, as lower global concentrations do not mean that microplastics in the atmosphere are unimportant.” In order to better understand the extent, uniform measurement methods, more evenly distributed measurement locations and the detection of even smaller plastic particles are required.
The entire globe is affected by plastic pollution in all shapes, colors and manufactures. Microplastics have already been detected in even the most remote ecosystems such as the deep sea.
The fact that previous measurements, according to the Vienna study, have so overestimated the microplastics in the atmosphere says above all that research methods need to become even more precise. In China, researchers examined samples using an electron microscope. They discovered a higher concentration of even tinier nanoplastics than before.