ArticleEnvironmental science & technology2024
Shape Matters: Long-Range Transport of Microplastic Fibers in the Atmosphere.
Article in Environmental science & technology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 118 citations in OpenAlex.
- Seasonality and maximum wind gusts correlate with microplastic concentrations in a freshwater stream system.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2026Article
- Micro- and Nanoplastics in the Human Exposome: Environmental Pathways, Kidney Toxicity, and Implications for Public Health Risk Assessment.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Nanoplastic detection and quantification in high-altitude glacial snow samples from Italy, Switzerland and France.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- A Model for Dry Deposition of Atmospheric Micro- and Nanoplastic Fibers.Environmental science & technology letters · 2026Article
- Toward "Safe" Chemicals and Materials on Mars: Knowledge Gaps for Expanding Planetary Protection Requirements.Environmental science & technology · 2026Review
- Colonization of Microplastics by Different Strains ofEnvironmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Toxicological impacts of microplastic fibers: A review assessing risk to human and aquatic health.Environmental research · 2026Review
- Seasonal rainfall and land-use impacts on microplastic characteristics in an endangered salmon stream.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Irreversible Plastic Flows and Sedimentary Ecological Entrapment: A Critical Review of Legacy Risks and Governance Strategies for Planetary Health.Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Diffusion-limited settling of highly porous particles in density-stratified fluids.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Environmental consequences of interacting effects of changes in stratospheric ozone, ultraviolet radiation, and climate: UNEP Environmental Effects Assessment Panel, Update 2024.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2025Article
- Using a citizen science approach to assess nanoplastics pollution in remote high-altitude glaciers.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Atmospheric Deposition of Microplastics in South Central Appalachia in the United States.ACS ES&T air · 2025Article
- Gastric lavage may not be representative of total microplastic ingestion for a wild passerine bird.PloS one · 2025Article
- Atmospheric Resuspension of Microplastics from Bare Soil Regions.Environmental science & technology · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The deposition of airborne microplastic particles, including those exceeding 1000 μm in the longest dimension, has been observed in the most remote places on earth. However, their deposition patterns are difficult to reproduce using current atmospheric transport models. These models usually treat particles as perfect spheres, whereas the real shapes of microplastic particles are often far from spherical. Such particles experience lower settling velocities compared to volume equivalent spheres, leading to longer atmospheric transport. Here, we present novel laboratory experiments on the gravitational settling of microplastic fibers in air and find that their settling velocities are reduced by up to 76% compared to those of the spheres of the same volume. An atmospheric transport model constrained with the experimental data shows that shape-corrected settling velocities significantly increase the horizontal and vertical transport of particles. Our model results show that microplastic fibers of about 1 mm length emitted in populated areas are more likely to reach extremely remote regions of the globe, including the high Arctic, which is not the case for spheres of equivalent volume. We also calculate that fibers with lengths of up to 100 μm settle slowly enough to be lifted high into the stratosphere, where degradation by ultraviolet radiation may release chlorine and bromine, thus potentially damaging the stratospheric ozone layer. These findings suggest that the growing environmental burden and still increasing emissions of plastic pose multiple threats to life on earth.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.