中国与美国的科学家在《Nature Climate Change》发表结果指出，大气中的纳米塑胶与微塑胶会吸收并储存阳光辐射，从而导致气候变暖，这与先前因白色粒子反射阳光而认为其影响可忽略的看法相反。研究团队在实验与模式中估计，空气中的塑胶污染具有黑碳热吸收效应的16.2%，而黑碳是仅次于二氧化碳的主要气候驱动因子，但研究者同时指出，这在全球尺度仍是较小的讯号。
他们测量到，空中粒子以有色为主；部分初始较亮的粒子会随老化变暗，因此净效应为增温。这在高浓度地区最为显著：在太平洋某些区域，这一效应达到黑碳的4.7倍，且在加州与日本之间、面积约德州大小的Great Pacific Garbage Patch等高污染区更为突出。极端天气可加剧短期强迫效应；2023 年一场超级台风使大气中的纳米塑胶浓度增加了近51%，形成区域性气候热点。
研究亦指出，来自陆地与海洋的塑胶在阳光作用下碎裂为更小颗粒，纳入约10^-9到10^-6米范围的纳米塑胶与微塑胶，并被风输送至大气。台风与热带气旋会暂时放大此效应，但其最大影响局限于局部且短暂。由于全球粒子浓度及其从海洋或陆地进入空气的速率仍不确定，空气中可归因于微塑胶的总暖化量仍未完全量化，模型可能高估或低估其气候影响，Drew Shindell 强调需进一步全球观测，以更精准衡量真实的辐射强迫量。
Scientists in China and the United States report in Nature Climate Change that atmospheric nanoplastics and microplastics absorb and retain solar radiation, producing warming, overturning earlier assumptions that microplastics were negligible because white particles reflected sunlight. In laboratory experiments and modelling, the team estimates airborne plastic pollution has 16.2% of black carbon’s heat-trapping effect, and while black carbon is the largest human climate forcing after carbon dioxide, the team notes the global signal remains relatively small.
The measurements indicate that most atmospheric particles are colored, and some initially lighter particles darken with aging, yielding a net warming effect. This is strongest in high-concentration areas: in parts of the Pacific the effect reached 4.7 times that of black carbon, and hotspots include the Great Pacific Garbage Patch between California and Japan, described as Texas-sized. Extreme weather can amplify short-term forcing; a 2023 super typhoon raised atmospheric nanoplastic concentration by almost 51%, creating regional climate hotspots.
The study also links plastic inputs from land and ocean to fragmentation under sunlight into smaller particles, spanning the 10^-9 to 10^-6 meter nanoplastic-microplastic size range, then becoming suspended in air. Typhoons and tropical cyclones can temporarily intensify this effect, but strongest impacts are local and short-lived. Total plastic-attributable warming remains uncertain because global particle concentrations and air emissions from ocean and land sources are poorly constrained; models may therefore under- or overestimate climate forcing. Drew Shindell says broader global measurements are needed to quantify the true radiative forcing more precisely.