This study estimated the load of surface microplastics (i.e. plastics less than 5mm, reported in unit of pieces/m^3) in the Eurasian Arctic (Barents, Kara, Laptev and East-Siberian Seas) from 2019-09-19 to 2019-10-21. Microplastics data were collected using neuston trawl net aboard R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh. This dataset contains the results from all 48 surface net tows, in a spreadsheet format. Tows were conducted for 30 min at an average cruising speed of 2 knots.

This study was carried out to estimate the microplastics (i.e. plastics measuring less than 5mm, reported in unit of pieces/m^3) concentration along a latitudinal gradient in the Atlantic Ocean. Microplastics data was collected from 2015-11-01 to 2015-11-28 aboard RV Polarstern. Ocean water was pumped onboard the vessel via the bow water system to collect microplastics samples. This dataset contains the results from all 76 sampling stations, in a spreadsheet format.

This study estimated the abundance of floating microplastics around the Southern Ocean during the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition in 2016/17. This dataset contains all 40 net trawls performed during this survey in a spreadsheet format. Microplastics particles were collected using a 200 μm neuston net equipped with a 100 × 30 cm rectangular frame opening, towed for 15 min at a speed of 2–2.5 knots.

Five subsections of Antarctic ice cores were used to create a new methodology for analyzing microplastics in sea ice.

This study was carried out to estimate the surface microplastics (plastics from size 0.5mm to 5mm, reported in unit of pieces/m^3) concentration in the North Pacific Ocean. Microplastics data was collected from 2018-11-01 to 2018-12-04 aboard MV Maersk Transporter, using a manta net. This dataset contains the results from all 16 sampling efforts, 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 northern South China Sea. Microplastics data was collected from 2018-08-07 to 2018-08-22 using stainless steel buckets. This dataset contains the results from all 69 sampling efforts, in a spreadsheet format.

This study was carried out to estimate the floating microplastics (i.e. plastics measuring less than 5mm, reported in unit of pieces/m^3) concentration in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Microplastics data was collected from 2017-08-28 to 2017-09-24 using a manta net. This dataset contains the results from all 18 sampling stations, in a spreadsheet format.

This study estimated the load of floating microplastics in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Data was collected aboard RV Angeles Alvarino and RV IV Lluerna using manta trawl net. This dataset contains the results from all 21 net tows, in a spreadsheet format. Tows were conducted for 15–20 min at an average cruising speed of 3 knots (1.5ms−1). The study found an average microplastic concentrations of 0.410 ± 0.361 pieces/m3.

This study was carried out to estimate the floating microplastics (plastics from size 0.5mm to 5mm, reported in unit of pieces/m^3) concentration in the North Pacific Ocean. Microplastics data was collected from 2015-07-25 to 2019-12-09 aboard MV Maersk Launcher, MV Maersk Transporter, and RV Professor Kaganovskiy, using manta and neuston nets. This dataset contains the results from all 663 sampling efforts, in a spreadsheet format.

The purpose of this study was to quantify microplastic pollution in the Southern Ocean through the analysis of sea-ice cores from several distinct regions around the Antarctic continent. We analysed 19 sea-ice cores from 10 individual research expeditions across distinct Southern Ocean regions: The Antarctic Peninsula, the Bellinghausen Sea, the Weddell Sea, Queen Maud Land, Prydz Bay, Wilkes Land, Mawson Sea, the Ross Sea, and McMurdo Sound, and sampled between austral summers 2004-2022. The campaigns and drill dates are as follows: ISPOL (Dec 2004), SIMBA (Oct 2007), YROSIAE (Dec 2011 and Nov 2012), SIPEX II (Oct 2012), DAVIS (Nov 2015), AAV2 (Dec 2016), PIPERS (May 2017), AWECS (June 2017), REKT (Jan 2021), and DML (Jan 2022). Abundance, chemical composition and size data for microplastics was obtained from these ice-core samples by means of Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Sample analysis was conducted with OPUS 8.7 software (Bruker), and the collated OPUS data was exported as an ENVI file and particle analysis was conducted with Purency Microplastic Finder (PMF) an automated analysis software for μFTIR imaging. In the provided excel data set, the sheet labelled “total polymer counts” provides data directly from Purency Microplastic Finder software, including polymer type, pixel size, area, length and width and denoted individually for each ice-core drill site. The sheet labelled “MP concentrations” denotes the abundance of microplastic particles per core, the quantity of sea-ice meltwater filtered, and the integrated abundances of microplastics across drill seasons, sites, and ice textures. The R data tab in data collated from the previous sheets to perform statistical analyses in R to determine if there were significant differences in medians across ice types, pan-Antarctic regions, and seasons. See the downloadable dataset for more information.