Microplastics have been identified in remote locations far from urban centres, including Antarctica, the Mariana Trench and the Great Australian Bight, due to long-distance river/ocean transport.
This research will conduct the first ever investigation into the long-range atmospheric transport and deposition of microplastic particles. Atmospheric transport of desert dust is known to occur over thousands of kilometres across oceans and continents. Atmospheric transport of microplastics over 100km was recently identified in the French Pyrenees. This project will investigate long-range atmospheric transport and deposition of microplastics in Fiji, Solomon Islands and Australia.
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Ideal candidate:
The ideal candidate will be curious and possess a demonstrated willingness to apply a breadth of skills in order to answer the research question. They will have the ability to work across scales of investigation and effectively connect results from the field and laboratory to the broader regional and global atmospheric processes. The ideal candidate will thrive as part of a multidisciplinary team and under the broader project partnership of atmospheric dust and urban air quality investigation being set up in the Pacific. The ideal candidate will have excelled in previous academic studies in either science or engineering and have worked with microplastics or other contaminant analysis in either water or soil samples. They will possess a demonstrated ability in and/or a willingness to learn new technical skills and undertake a mixture of field, laboratory and numerical modelling lines of investigation.