Microplastics circulating in the atmosphere are being driven largely by land-based sources, overturning long-held assumptions about the ocean’s role in global plastic spread. New research indicates that land emits more than 20 times as many microplastic particles into the air as marine environments.

The findings, published in Nature, suggest earlier estimates of atmospheric plastic pollution were significantly inflated. Scientists say the atmosphere acts as a key transport system, carrying microscopic plastic fragments across continents and into remote regions.

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