1. –proposal for data management with
EMODnet Chemistry 3
Training WS, May 2017
Marine microlitter
–proposal for data management with
CDIs and ODVs –
Matteo Vinci
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

2. Marine microlitter
reference: Guidance on Monitoring of Marine Litter in European Seas 2013
MSFD Technical Subgroup on Marine Litter
Marine Microlitter: Section 4.4 of the MSFD descriptor 10 Microplastics
‘’Amount, distribution and composition of microparticles. The attribute will establish baseline quantities, properties and potential impacts of microparticles. Microplastic is likely to be the most significant part of this.’’
Also other materials…
Microparticles of a range of common material types including glass, metal, plastic and paper litter are undoubtedly present in the environment…
…but relative proportions of material types will be influenced by the physical conditions of the habitat sampled, for example metal and glass microlitter is not likely to be found at the sea surface. (from manta and bongo nets surveys)
Dimensions:
When first described the term microplastic was used to refer to truly microscopic particles in the region of 20 μm (micrometers 1 µm = 1 × 10−6 m) diameter (Thompson et al. 2004).
The definition has been broadened to include all particles < 5 mm (Arthur et al. 2009).
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

3. Marine microlitter Examples of files/formats received
CEFAS  we received a 3 tabs xls file :
with information about the survey in the 1st tab
and summary statistics in the others
IFREMER we received a 1 tab xls file
Italian environmental agency (ARPA FVG)  we received a 4 tabs xls file with
1st legenda
2nd stations descriptions
3rd physical-chemical parameters
4th plastics info
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

4. Marine microlitter
Microlitter: (Guidance on Monitoring of Marine Litter in European Seas 2013
MSFD Technical Subgroup on Marine Litter)
Type+
Shapes
Count of particles is mandatory following MSFD requirements
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

5. Marine microlitter
1st TWG Venice April 2017 discussed possible handling of common surveyed information in the different initiatives.
General principles:
CDIs  including microlitter information in the available CDI profile fields
ODVs a “bio-ODV like” file with:
ODV mandatory (ODV default) fields like: cruise, station, type, position…(green)
ODV additional selected fields (Guidance on Monitoring of Marine Litter in European Seas 2013, CEFAS, IFREMER, ARPA FVG) to describe marine microlitter (orange):
additional mandatory: fields will be always present in ODV file and always filled (category, count,… )
additional optional: fields will be always present in ODV file but could be empty (size, color,…)
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

6. Marine microlitterCDIs
Pre-filled example of CDI
For litter management
Details
 Example
vocab
terms
What?
Data set name
Bottle and Low Resolution CTD Data
Discipline
Administration and dimensions
P08
DS10 Environment
Chemical oceanography
Physical oceanography
Parameter groups
P03
H001 Pollution
Carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus
Carbonate system
Dissolved gases
Nutrients
Water column temperature and salinity
Discovery parameters
Alkalinity, acidity and pH of the water column
P02
LITT Litter abundance and type
Dissolved oxygen parameters in the water column
Phosphate concentration parameters in the water column
Salinity of the water column
Temperature of the water column
Vertical spatial coordinates
GEMET-INSPIRE themes
Oceanographic geographical features
Abstract
Data format
Ocean Data View ASCII input  Version 0.4
Data set creation date
Where?
Latitude 1
58,53333
start point coordinates
Longitude 1
0,25
Latitude 2
end point coordinates
Longitude 2
Datum
World Geodetic System 84
Measuring area type
point
point/curve (if more than 1 point)
Sea regions
North Sea
C16
SeaDataNet sea areas
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

7. Marine microlitterCDIs
Details
 Example
vocab
terms
When?
Start date
Start time
00:00:00
End date
End time
How?
Instrument / gear type
CTD
L05
to add "manta" and "bongo" instrument
discrete water samplers
Platform type
unknown
Station name
287
Alternative station name
Station start date
WHO?
Originator
British Oceanographic Data Centre
EDMO
Data Holding centre
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)
HOW TO GET THE DATA?
Data Distributor
Access/ordering of data
web data access with registration
Access restriction
SeaDataNet licence
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

8. Marine microlitterCDIs
Details
 Example
vocab
terms
Other info
Quality info
 protocols if available
CDI-METADATA
CDI-record id
CDI-record creation date
CDI-record last update
CDI-partner
IEO/Spanish Oceanographic Institute
EDMO
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

9. Marine microlitter ODV
Label/column header in datafile
Use
comment
Cruise
mandatory (ODV Default)
Station
Type
Reiner suggestion is to use type "B". From manual: 'B' for bottle profile data. For time series and trajectories set to 'B' for small (<250) row groups
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.sss
start date/time.
Longitude [degrees_east]
start point coordinates.
Latitude [degrees_north]
LOCAL_CDI_ID
EDMO_code
Bot. Depth [m]
Depth [m]
additional
depth of the sampling that for marine microlitter could be often 0 m
End_Longitude [degrees_east]
additional/optional
end point coordinates.
End_Latitude [degrees_north]
End_yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.sss
end date/time.
Category
field obtained as a combination of type and shape
Color
Size
Count
number of items collected. It's the official mandate from MSFD to provide the count of collected microplastics
Weight [g]
weight of the collected items, not mandatory information in grams
Distance [Km]
survey distance from the beginning point in km
Weather conditions- sea conditions [Dmnless]
sea conditions following the Douglas scale
Weather conditions- wind conditions [Dmnless]
wind conditions following the Beaufort scale
Net_opening [cm]
bongo or manta net opening information for the calculation of the covered surface in cm
Mesh_size [µm]
mesh size for manta or bongo net in µm
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

10. Marine microlitter  terms and vocabs
Type+Shapes
Category
Plastic
Plastic fragments
Plastic fragments rounded
Plastic fragments subrounded
Plastic fragments subangular
Plastic fragments angular
Plastic pellets
Plastic pellets cylindrical
Plastic pellets disks
Plastic pellets flat
Plastic pellets ovoid
Plastic pellets spheruloid
Plastic filaments
Plastic films
Plastic foam
Plastic granules
Plastic styrofoam
Other (glass, metal, tar)
New terms to add to P01
…plus “end date/time”
To be added in p01
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

11. Marine microlitter terms and vocabs
New vocabularies for optional additional fields:
Douglas
Degree
Height (m)
Description
no wave
Calm (Glassy) 1
0–0.10
Calm (rippled) 2
0.10–0.50
Smooth 3
0.50–1.25
Slight 4
1.25–2.50
Moderate 5
2.50–4.00
Rough 6
4.00–6.00
Very rough 7
6.00–9.00
High 8
9.00–14.00
Very high 9
14.00+
Phenomenal
Beaufort
Beaufort number
Description
Calm 1
Light air 2
Light breeze 3
Gentle breeze 4
Moderate breeze 5
Fresh breeze 6
Strong breeze 7
High wind, moderate gale, near gale 8
Gale, fresh gale 9
Strong/severe gale 10
Storm,[7] whole gale 11
Violent storm 12
Hurricane force [7]
Size classes:
<300µm
300µm-500µm
500µm-1mm
1-2mm
2-5 mm
5mm- 25mm
(Common used size categories, not only micro…)
Color classes:
From Cefas example, modified according to Tab.9.:
BLACK/GREY
BLUE/GREEN
BROWN/TAN
TRANSPARENT/TRANSLUCENT
WHITE/CREAM
YELLOW
ORANGE/PINK/RED
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

12. Marine microlitter ODV ODV mandatory/default fields
Cruise
Station
Type
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.sss
Longitude [degrees_east]:METAVAR:DOUBLE
Latitude [degrees_north]:METAVAR:DOUBLE
LOCAL_CDI_ID
EDMO_code
Bot. Depth [m]
XXXX B
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

13. Marine microlitter ODV ODV litter additional fields
Depth [m]
End_Longitude [degrees_east]
End_Latitude [degrees_north]
End_yyyy-mm-dThh:mm:ss.sss]
Category:INDEXED_TEXT
Color:INDEXED_TEXT
Size:INDEXED_TEXT
plastic
BLACK/GREY
300µm-500µm
500µm-1mm
BLUE/GREEN
BROWN/TAN
TRANSPARENT/TRANSLUCENT
WHITE/CREAM
YELLOW
ORANGE/PINK/Red
Plastic fragments
Plastic fragments rounded
Plastic fragments subrounded
Additional mandatory fields
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

14. Marine microlitter ODV ODV litter additional fields
Count
Weight [g]
Distance [Km]
Weather conditions- sea conditions [Douglas sea scale]
Weather conditions- wind conditions [Beaufort wind scale]
Net_opening [cm]
Mesh_size [µm] 10 5 1 30
200 20 2 16
103 17 15
Additional mandatory fields
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017

15. Thanks! Questions!?
EMODnet Chemistry 3 Training WS, May 2017