Plastic Rain Is a Now a Thing, And We've Underestimated Just How Heavy It Is

There is a mist coming from the sky. It's not possible to see it. Feel it. There is no smell or taste. Researchers think we areunderestimating the amount of rain.

According to new estimates by a team of scientists from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, the average amount of microplastic particles settles on every square meter of the city's urban rooftops on a daily basis.

It adds up to 74 metric tons of plastic every year.

It's more plastic than was thought to be drifting down on London, Paris, or Hamburg. A study in 2020 estimated that an average of 771 microplastic particles fell onto the same patch in London.

It doesn't mean that London is less polluted than New Zealand. It's located in a less remote part of the world and is much larger.

It is more likely that previous air quality estimates were not measuring the smallest microplastics.

Every study is conducted in a slightly different way because there is no standard method for identifying microplastics.

More offenders are hiding in the air around us as our ability to measure the smallest of microplastics continues to improve.

Microplastics are thought to be circulating in the human lung with unknown health effects.

Future work will need to quantify how much plastic we are breathing in.

This is an important route of exposure.

The findings from New Zealand are based on a 9-week study of two sites, one on the roof of a university building in the city and the other in a suburb. A funnel and jar were used to catch airborne microplastics.

Researchers counted the remnants of different types of plastic. Poly(ethylene Terephthalate) (PET), used in food and beverage packaging, was the most prolific.

Microplastics caught in the city increased in number when the winds were strong. The results show that the airborne plastic is kicked up from the coastline.

The production of airborne microplastics could be a key part of the global transport of microplastics.

It could help explain how some microplastics get into the atmosphere and end up in New Zealand.

In Germany and England, airborne plastic numbers seem to be lower than in other European countries. Micropollutants are still a problem.

Microplastics were discovered in the Pyrenees mountains in a small pilot study in Europe.

Scientists warned that airborne microplastics could be having an effect on Earth's climate. The greenhouse effect could be worse in the future if concentrations continue to rise.

The study found that the urban site trapped more microplastics than the residential site.

Most of the particles were less than 50 micrometers in size. Only 3 percent of them were larger than 100 micrometers.

Plastic fibers, not fragments, seem to be the bigger source of pollution compared to what was found in London. There are different types of pollution in different parts of the world.

Microplastics larger than 63 micrometers were only measured in the survey. The amount of particles from this city was 18 times less than what was found in New Zealand.

The smaller the fragment or fiber, the more likely it is to get into our cells.

Scientists don't know if plastic pollution falling from the sky has toxic effects.

The study was published in a scientific journal.