Global area boom for greenhouse cultivation revealed by satellite mapping.

Greenhouse cultivation has been expanding rapidly in recent years, yet little knowledge exists on its global extent and expansion. Using commercial and freely available satellite data combined with artificial intelligence techniques, we present a global assessment of greenhouse cultivation coverage and map 1.3 million hectares of greenhouse infrastructures in 2019, a much larger extent than previously estimated.

Settling of buoyant microplastic in estuaries: The importance of flocculation.

Rivers and estuaries are regarded as major pathways of microplastic (MP) transport from terrestrial areas to marine ecosystems. Despite this knowledge on the transport dynamics and fate of MP in freshwater riverine and brackish estuarine waters is limited. Via ex situ settling experiments emulating the Msimbazi River and Estuary in Dar es-Salaam, Tanzania, we demonstrate that flocculation and subsequent settling of positively buoyant MP and fine-grained suspended sediment in riverine and estuarine waters are important for the environmental fate of the plastic particles.