Microplastic distributions from the 2019 Gulf of Alaska International Year of the Salmon Expedition

Data were collected on the relative abundance and weight of microplastics (0.05-0.15 cm and 0.15-0.5 cm) and mesoplastics (0.5-1.5 cm and 1.5-5 cm). The sampling was done using a Hydro-Bios neuston trawl (mouth opening of 70 cm x 40 cm), with a 260 cm long sampling net with a mesh size of 300 um in the surface waters of the Gulf of Alaska (GoA), in the eastern North Pacific Ocean. 56 Neuston trawls were conducted and a visual survey of floating plastic was performed at 20 locations. These data were collected as part of the International Year of the Salmon (IYS) Gulf of Alaska High Seas Expedition conducted in February and March 2019, to further improve the understanding of factors impacting salmon early marine winter survival.

Data and resources

A spatially variable scarcity of floating microplastics in the eastern North Pacific Ocean

Published paper by Egger et al. (2020) that includes data collected on microplastics during the 2019 Gulf of Alaska High Seas Expedition

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Supplementary material for the collected microplastic data

The supplementary materials include a protocol on how to conduct visual surveys for floating marine debris, and the sampling methodology used to generate the…

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Article supplementary materials

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Data

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Additional information

DOI	https://doi.org/10.21966/wvnb-8g62
Temporal extent	2019-02-18 – 2019-03-14
Vertical extent	0.0 – 0.2 m
Date (creation)	2019-02-18
Status	completed
Update frequency	asNeeded
Metadata language	en
License	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Source metadata	ISO 19115 XML
Last updated	2026-09-16
Created	2026-09-16
API	package_show