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Microplastics affecting cloud formation

11/14/24

Microplastics have already been found in all the most primitive environments on Earth. From the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow on Mount Everest to the clouds on the mountaintops of China and Japan. They were also found in human brains, sea turtle stomachs and plant roots. Recent research suggests that microplastics also affect cloud formation, weather and climate.

Photo:Pixabay

A study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology: Air showed that microplastics act as ice nucleation particles that facilitate the formation of ice crystals in clouds.

The study suggests that microplastics can affect precipitation patterns, weather forecasting, climate modeling, and even aviation safety by affecting how atmospheric ice crystals form clouds.

Scientists studied the freezing activity of four different types of microplastics in a controlled laboratory environment. The team suspended the plastics in tiny water droplets and slowly cooled them to observe how the microplastics affected ice formation.

It was found that the average temperature at which the droplets froze was five to ten degrees higher than for droplets without microplastics. An atmospheric droplet without defects freezes at minus 38 degrees Celsius. The study showed that droplets containing microplastics froze at minus 22 degrees Celsius.

It is not yet entirely clear what this discovery means for weather and climate. If air patterns are such that the droplet rises into the atmosphere and cools, that's when microplastics could affect weather patterns and form ice in clouds.

In general clouds cool the Earth by reflecting solar radiation but some clouds at certain altitudes can have a warming effect by helping to trap energy radiated from the Earth.

Scientists know that the fact that microplastics can nucleate ice has far-reaching effects. At present the study of various additives that are commonly added to plastics is underway. This gives scientists an idea of how commonly used plastics can affect the atmosphere.

Source:ScienceDaily/Editorial