At a Glance

Researchers estimated microplastics equal to 123 million plastic water bottles makes its way to the Western U.S. each year.The particles were found in atmospheric dust.MIcroplastics are being discovered in every corner of the globe.

More than 1,000 tons of microplastics - the equivalent of 123 million plastic water bottles - rain down each year on national parks and other protected lands in the western U.S., according to new research.

Researchers who compiled the , published Friday in the Journal Science, collected samples from sites in 11 locations, including Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain and Joshua Tree national parks.

The discovery was made by accident after Janice Brahney, the study's lead author and an assistant professor at Utah State University, noticed something unusual while analyzing atmospheric dust.

"Scrolling around these samples, I started to see all these " Brahney told Environmental Health News. "Nearly every single sample had plastic in it."

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Atmospheric dust is made up of particles that are swept into the atmosphere, then disbursed back on to Earth. The fact there were microplastics among the particles indicated that the plastic pollution could be coming from anywhere in the world, not just nearby cities.

“This result, combined with the size distribution of identified plastics, and the relationship to global-scale climate patterns, suggest that plastic emission sources have well beyond our population centers and, through their longevity, spiral through the Earth system," Brahney said in a news release.

"Several studies have attempted to quantify the global plastic cycle but were unaware of the atmospheric limb. Our data show the plastic cycle is reminiscent of the global water cycle, having atmospheric, oceanic, and terrestrial lifetimes.”

are tiny fragments not more than the size of a sesame seed. They can come from larger pieces of plastic that break down, or from clothing, carpet and other products. Most of the microplastics found by Brahney and her colleagues were from textiles.

A biologist looks at microplastics found in sea species at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research near Athens, on November 26, 2019. Microplastics are being found in all corners of the globe, included protected lands in the western U.S.

(LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Microplastics are a well-known source of marine pollution, but scientists are them everywhere from the Alps and the Arctic.

"Our most important finding was that there are multliple sources of plastic to the atmosphere, some new and some old," Brahney said. "More data across space and more data across time will help us understand how plastics are moving across the atmosphere."

She hopes the findings will lead to efforts to help stop the spread of microplastics.

“This ubiquity of microplastics in the atmosphere and the subsequent deposition to remote terrestrial and aquatic environments raise widespread ecological and societal concerns,” Brahney said. “Identifying the key mechanisms of plastic emission to the atmosphere is a first step in developing global-scale solutions.”

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