Microplastic transport by bursting bubbles

The transport of microplastics – 500 to 10 microns in size – by means of bursting bubbles is studied. Single bubble bursts are recorded with high-speed photography and jet drops produced are caught to understand and quantify the mechanism by which microplastics are captured and ejected. As bursting bubble sea spray has previously been shown to be an effective transport mechanism for water, salts, and biological material out of the ocean into the atmosphere, this work extends that body of literature to quantify the transport of plastic pollution.