Japanese scientists find microplastics are present in clouds
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Each litre of cloud water contained between 6.7 to 13.9 pieces of the plastics, researchers found.
PHOTO: AFP
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TOKYO - Japan’s researchers have confirmed that microplastics are present in clouds, where they are likely affecting the climate in ways that are not yet fully understood.
In a study published in the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters, scientists climbed Mount Fuji and Mount Oyama to collect water from the mists that shroud the peaks, then applied advanced imaging techniques to the samples to determine their physical and chemical properties.
The team identified nine different types of polymers and one type of rubber in the airborne microplastics – ranging in size from 7.1 to 94.6 micrometres. Each litre of cloud water contained between 6.7 and 13.9 pieces of the plastics.
Hydrophilic, or water-loving, polymers were abundant, suggesting the particles play a significant role in rapid cloud formation and thus climate systems.
“If the issue of plastic air pollution is not addressed proactively, climate change and ecological risks may become reality, causing irreversible and serious environmental damage in the future,” lead author Hiroshi Okochi, a professor of Waseda University, warned in a statement on Wednesday.
When microplastics reach the upper atmosphere and are exposed to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, they degrade, contributing to greenhouse gases, he said.
Microplastics – defined as plastic particles under 5mm – come from industrial effluent, textiles, synthetic car tyres, personal care products and much more.
These tiny fragments have been found inside fish in the deepest recesses of the ocean, peppering Arctic sea ice and blanketing the snows on the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain.
But the mechanisms of their transport have remained unclear, with research limited.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on airborne microplastics in cloud water,” the authors wrote in the paper.
Emerging evidence has linked microplastics to a range of impacts on heart and lung health, as well as cancers, in addition to widespread environmental harm. AFP
