[M-IS09] Ocean Plastics, an earth science perspective

[MIS09-P02] A Comprehensive Multilevel Database of Microplastic Abundance in the World’s Upper Oceans

*Ali Yousefian¹, Atsuhiko Isobe¹ (1.Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University)

Keywords:Microplastic abundance, Global 2D maps, Multilevel database

Marine microplastics is a significant global challenge which has been recognized as a serious international issue given their detrimental impact on marine ecosystems and the near impossible prospect of their recovery. Identifying their current distribution pattern and density in the world’s oceans is crucial not only from a scientific perspective but also for future policy making and implementation. shedding light on their global distribution can lead to preventive measures which can only be accomplished by effective monitoring strategies. In that regard, a comprehensive database of microplastic density from the world’s oceans is created by gathering individual sample datasets taken by research groups worldwide through an international collaboration. The data is then analyzed and processed consisting of raw, calibrated, and gridded data which are made available to the public. After the raw data is obtained by different research groups using surface net tows or continuous seawater intake, Fibrous microplastics are removed a to account for potential contamination during sampling. Finally the vertical integration analysis is carried out to account for vertical mixing under different oceanic conditions and an optimum interpolation method is utilized to create a gridded global data. The database will be opened publicly from the “Atlas of Ocean Microplastics (AOMI)” website sponsored by Ministry of the Environment, Japan.