These data were collected by Alkema during a cruise from 04/2018 to 06/2018 traversing the Atlantic Ocean from South Africa to Norway. A 500 micrometer meshed Manta Trawl was towed outside the wake of the ship for 1 h each day. Length, width, height and polymer type of 6.942 particles were measured using infrared spectroscopy and image analysis.
data(alkema_microplastics)A data frame with 6942 rows and 11 variables.
| current | factor | Which ocean current the sample was taken from |
| sample | integer | Sample ID |
| length | numeric | Particle length in mm |
| width | numeric | Particle width in mm |
| height_est | numeric | Estimated particle height in mm |
| height_obs | numeric | Observed particle height in mm. Height was only measured for large particles |
| category | factor | Particle category based on visual inspection |
| poly_type | factor | Polymer type as determined by near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) |
| two_dim | logical | Whether or not the particle can be treated as two-dimensional |
| film | logical | Whether or not the particle appears to be a film |
| line | logical | Whether or not the particle appears to be a line |
Alkema, L. M., Van Lissa, C. J., Kooi, M., & Koelmans, A. A. (2022). Maximizing Realism: Mapping Plastic Particles at the Ocean Surface Using Mixtures of Normal Distributions. Environmental Science & Technology, 56(22), 15552-15562. doi:10.1021/acs.est.2c03559