This study was carried out to estimate the pelagic microplastics (plastics from size 0.5mm to 5mm, reported in unit of pieces/m^3) concentration in the North Atlantic Ocean. Microplastics data was collected from 2020-11-06 to 2020-11-29 aboard RV Pelagia, using a manta net. This dataset contains the results from all 36 sampling efforts, in a spreadsheet format.

This study estimated the concentration of surface microplastics (i.e. plastics measuring less than 5mm, reported in unit of pieces/m3) in the Salento coastal seas (Southern Puglia, Italy) from 2020-10-17 to 2021-06-28. Microplastic data were collected aboard R/V Pelagia using a manta net. This dataset contains the results from all 18 surface water samples, in a spreadsheet format.

This study was carried out to estimate the microplastics (i.e. plastics measuring less than 5mm, reported in unit of pieces/m^3) concentration in the Algerian surface waters. Microplastics data was collected over four seasons from 2018-01-28 to 2018-11-29 using a manta net. This dataset contains the results from all 24 sampling stations, in a spreadsheet format.

This study was carried out to estimate the microplastics (i.e. plastics measuring less than 5mm, reported in unit of pieces per 100 g of d.w.) concentration in benthic sediments in primary fishing grounds in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Microplastics data was collected from 2020-06-07 to 2021-02-27 using a Day grab. This dataset contains the results from all 17 sampling efforts, in a spreadsheet format.

This study estimated the concentration of microplastics (i.e. plastics measuring less than 5mm; reported in unit of items/kg d.w) in subtidal sediments from the Sado River estuary and the Arrábida marine park, Portugal collected from 2018-08-22 to 2019-02-27. Microplastics were collected using a petite Ponar benthic grab. This dataset contains the results from all 36 sediment samples, in a spreadsheet format.

This dataset contains the version 1.0 CYGNSS level 3 ocean microplastic concentration data record, which provides 18 netCDF files, each containing one month of daily gridded maps of microplastic number density (#/km^2). Microplastic concentration number density is indirectly estimated by an empirical relationship between ocean surface roughness and wind speed (Evans and Ruf, 2021). User caution is advised in regions containing independent, non-correlative factors affecting ocean surface roughness, such as anomalous atmospheric conditions within the Intertropical Convergence Zone, biogenic surfactants (such as algal blooms), oil spills, etc. This product reports microplastic concentration on a daily temporal and 0.25-degree latitude/longitude spatial grid with 30-day, 1 degree latitude/longitude feature resolution, as constrained by the binning and spatiotemporal averaging of the Mean Square Slope (MSS) anomaly (i.e., difference between measured and predicted ocean surface roughness for a given wind speed).

These are the raw data associated with the manuscript, "Quantification of microplastics in sediments from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island USA using a novel isolation and extraction method" All raw data also appears within supplementary materials of this publication. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Cashman, M., T. Langknecht, D. El Khatib, R. Burgess, T. Boving, S. Robinson, and K. Ho. Quantification of microplastics in sediments from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island USA using a novel isolation and extraction method. MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, USA, 174: 113254, (2022).

This study estimated the abundance of microplastics (i.e., plastics measuring less than 5mm) on marine turtle nesting beaches during 2018-08-04 to 2020-01-24. Samples were collected with metallic trowel. Sand samples were collected from 209 sites spanning six oceans and 39 countries by a global network of marine turtle scientists. Microplastics were extracted through stacked sieves, visually identified, and a sub-sample verified via Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Microplastic particles were counted and weighed, which in combination with the dry sand sample weight and volume, allowed multiple units of measure to be calculated: Plastic weight per kg of dry sediment (g kg-1), plastic particle number per kg of dry sediment (particle kg-1), and plastic particle number per m-3 of dry sediment (particle m-3). Plastic particles were also categorized into five types: industrial plastic pellets, foams, fragments, sheetlike user plastics and threadlike user plastics. This dataset contains the results from all 209 samples in a spreadsheet format.

A review of peer-reviewed publications was undertaken, focusing on coastal and marine microplastics relevant to South Eastern Australia (South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales), as well as from ongoing citizen science programmes from AUSMAP (https://www.ausmap.org/). This dataset summarises basic information about the microplastics studies: the location of the study; if the study focused on water, sediment or biota; the type of biota (for biotic studies); and the DOI of the publication. Although the primary focus of this study was restricted to southeastern Australia, studies collated from other regions have also been included in this dataset. The outcomes of the literature review for other regions (QLD, NT, SA, WA, Tas) should not be considered comprehensive.