First comparison of sampler surface areas for atmospheric microfibre deposition

Recent studies have reported on the widespread abundance of atmospheric microplastics (At-MPs) and atmospheric anthropogenic microfibres (At-AMFs) in urban and remote locations. This study sought to test whether there were differences in the quantity of deposited At-AMFs collected when comparing three different surface sampler areas (small: 0.0113 m² (Φ = 120 mm), medium: 0.0254 m² (Φ = 180 mm) and large: 0.0346 m² (Φ = 210 mm)). The analysis revealed no statistically significant variation in the number of At-AMFs recorded, when data was presented in At-AMFs per m² day⁻¹. However, our findings indicate that for any given individual sampling event, the amount of deposition can range by ∼ 150 to 200 At-AMFs m² d⁻¹ even if samplers are kept relatively close together. To account for this, we would recommend that future studies collect data in duplicate or triplicate. Our results suggest that data can be compared across different sites and geographical regions—at least if comparing the overall mean and standard deviation of all samples collected. These findings are important because currently there is no standard sampler size for passive collection of At-AMFs and At-MPs.