Airborne Particles and ClimateAirborne Particles and ClimateCoverage from Nature, Scientific American, and others
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Airborne particles and aerosols can influence climate by absorbing sunlight, reflecting radiation, and interacting with clouds.
Recent research on atmospheric microplastics and nanoplastics suggests darker or weathered particles may produce net warming, while lighter particles can have a cooling effect; winds, sea spray, and storms transport them across oceans and continents. Modeling work has identified potentially stronger regional effects over the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, although the overall climate influence remains uncertain because atmospheric concentrations and distributions are poorly measured. The subject also raises questions about how climate models should represent particle and cloud effects.
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A radiative transfer study estimates direct radiative forcing from airborne microplastics and nanoplastics, with regional North Pacific values exceeding black carbon.
Fudan University researchers estimated airborne microplastics could warm the atmosphere at about 16 percent of black carbon warming in Nature Climate Change.
CERN CLOUD Collaboration published a Nature study in 2026 showing methanesulfonic acid can drive marine aerosol nucleation and growth over the Southern Ocean and Atlantic and Pacific regions.
Drew Shindell and coauthors reported May 4 that atmospheric colored microplastics and nanoplastics may add about 2 percent of warming using laboratory measurements and climate models.
The University of Alabama in Huntsville and Aarhus University researchers reported in Geophysical Research Letters a newly identified gas-phase oxygenated organosulfate formation pathway driving aerosol nucleation in mixed-emission atmospheres.
Hongbo Fu and collaborators modeled airborne dyed microplastics absorbing sunlight and contributing warming globally, including amplified effects over the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.
Researchers using satellite observations for 2008-2018 report dust-driven changes in northern hemisphere high clouds that raise reflectivity and may reduce modeled warming.
Nature Climate Change study led by Drew Shindell in the U.S. estimates microplastics and nanoplastics cause net atmospheric warming despite uncertain particle abundance.
Scientists analyzing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in Nature report that airborne microplastics and nanoplastics can contribute to atmospheric warming, especially after typhoons.
Nature Climate Change published findings in which microplastics’ color-dependent absorption and reflection produce net atmospheric warming, raising potential climate-model update needs.
Researchers in China and the United States report Nature Climate Change findings that airborne microplastics absorb sunlight and can trap heat, raising regional warming risks.
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