CEFASb5b81769-70ef-4276-b6e0-239845aa1c5f English dataset Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk pointOfContact 2025-04-11T12:52:22 EPSG Geodetic Parameter Registry 2022-01-07 revision WGS 84 Microplastics in sea surface waters in the Southern Bight of the North Sea in 2022 2024-06-26 publication 2025-04-11 revision 2024-06-25 creation CEFAS21956 https://data.cefas.co.uk This dataset contains 1 csv file. The dataset contains data of floating microplastic abundances including meso and macro plastics at different locations collected in the North Sea during environmental surveys on the RV Endeavour, in 2022. Microplastic abundances were reported per unit area (km-2 ). A flowmeter attached to the bottom of the Neuston Microplastic Catamaran trawl was used to estimate the volume of water sampled. The volume sampled was estimated following Russel and Webster (2021) (`Microplastics in sea surface waters around Scotland - ScienceDirect`_). Form and polymer type of all three size classes (micro, meso and macroplastics) are also provided. The reporting of microlitter in surface water was done according to the recent Guidance on Monitoring of Marine Litter in European Seas ( `https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC133594`_). Microlitter types and polymer types was reported according to EMODnet. .. _`microplastics in sea surface waters around scotland - sciencedirect`: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X21002447 .. _`https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/jrc133594`: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC133594 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk originator Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk custodian Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk distributor Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) data.manager@cefas.co.uk owner notPlanned Litter abundance and type SeaDataNet P02 parameter discovery vocabulary 2011-03-25 revision Management Monitoring GEMET, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication Habitats and biotopes GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication Upper epipelagic SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2010-05-18 revision Marine Environmental Data and Information Network MEDIN metadata record availability 2012-01-11 publication data.gov.uk MEDIN metadata record availability 2012-01-11 publication otherRestrictions noLimitations otherRestrictions Public data - no limitations to reuse English environment 0.50 2.50 51.50 53.25 2022-11-27 2022-11-30 Delimited Geographic Information System Unknown https://data.cefas.co.uk/view/21956 Cefas Data Portal download The Cefas Data Portal contains metadata records and data sets available to download and connect to in support of our commitment to open science. Data is available in the following formats: CSV, ESRI Shapefile. The data can also be accessed via the WFS and WMS protocols. dataset INSPIRE Data Specification on Habitats and Biotopes – Technical Guidelines 2013-12-10 publication false See the referenced specification Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08 publication true See the referenced specification This work is part of the floating microplastic monitoring commitments Cefas has set itself. The assessment of microplastics in surface waters is used for a potential OSPAR indicator development. Samples were collected using a Microplastic Catamaran in the Southern Bight of the North Sea. In the lab larger items were removed from the sample for imaging and ATR-FTIR ( Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopic) analysis. 400 ml of 30% KOH:NaClO were added and then incubated for 24 h at 40 C. Samples were settled for 1 h before filtration onto GF/D filters. Suspected particles were identified and polymer identification was carried out using a LUMOS II micro-ATR-FTIR. Spectra were collected in absorbance mode in the range 4000 - 500 cm-1 at a resolution of 4 cm-1. Polymer identification was verified based on the percentage match against provided polymer libraries. Only matches above 60% were selected for polymer identification. MEDIN 3.1.1