EGU23-6536, updated on 25 Feb 2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-6536
EGU General Assembly 2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

High debit sampling of airborne micro and nanoplastics in remote sea

Boris Eyheraguibel1, Alexandra Ter Halle2, Yann Ourmieres3, Jean-Francois Ghiglione4, and Pierre Amato1
Boris Eyheraguibel et al.
  • 1Institute of Chemistry , University Clermont Auvergne,CNRS UMR 6296 , Aubière, France (boris.eyheraguibel@uca.fr)
  • 2Laboratoire des IMRCP, Université de Toulouse, CNRS UMR 5623, Toulouse , France (alexandra.ter-halle@cnrs.fr)
  • 3Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Université de Toulon, Toulon, France (yann.ourmieres@mio.osupytheas.fr)
  • 4Laboratoire d’Océanographie Microbienne, Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls, Sorbonne Universités, CNRS UMR 7621, Banyuls , France (jean-francois.ghiglione@obs-banyuls.fr)

The occurrence of micro and nano plastics has been reported in every environmental compartment including marine and freshwaters, soils and sediments, air and atmospheric precipitations.  Recent evidence showing the presence of airborne microplastics in remote ecosystems highlights the extent of this pollution. The atmospheric transportation and the distribution of airborne microplastics still need to be better documented to understand the dynamic of microplastic transfer between ecosystems.

While most studies dedicated to the analysis of microplastics in the air use a passive sampling methodology through atmospheric deposition we developed an original stainless device to sample large volumes of air with high debit (2000 L/min) providing a fast sampling of aerosols within a small localized area. An optimized sampling protocol has been deployed in the North Western Mediterranean Sea from the Expedition 7th Continent (E7C) boat. 19 sampling sites have been studied during the E7C expedition in September-October 2019, including measurements in port and coastal areas as well as offshore environments. The analysis of micro/nano plastics was carried out using pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS/MS). This approach allowed us to evaluate the concentrations of micro and nano plastics present in the samples for 5 types of plastics (polypropylene, polystyrene, polymethyl methacrylate, polyethylene terephthalate and polycarbonate) and for 2 size ranges (5-50μm and <5μm).

This study confirmed that plastic particles are present in the atmosphere even in remote areas such as the offshore environments. The results showed that airborne micro and nano plastics were detected at each sampling station, from the coast to the open sea, at various concentrations. Py-GC-MS/MS analysis allowed us to quantify the 5 types of polymer and revealed the predominance of PET and PP material. High-volume samplers and  Py-GC-MS/MS analysis have proven to be an efficient and powerful methodology to gather and quantify airborne plastic particles at micro and nanoscale level.

How to cite: Eyheraguibel, B., Ter Halle, A., Ourmieres, Y., Ghiglione, J.-F., and Amato, P.: High debit sampling of airborne micro and nanoplastics in remote sea, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-6536, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-6536, 2023.

Corresponding supplementary materials formerly uploaded have been withdrawn.