Microplastic measurement campaign during The Ocean Race Europe 2021 from the racing yachts AmberSail2 and AkzoNobel by GEOMAR Kiel.

The provided microplastic dataset was generated during The Ocean Race Europe in May-June 2021. The samples were collected onboard two 65’ one-design yachts known as VolvoOcean65, called AmberSail2 and AkzoNobel Ocean Racing in the Baltic Sea, North Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. The instruments used for underway measurements were the same as used in Tanuha et al., 2020. The system consists of a specially built OceanPack RACE manufactured by SubCtech GmbH in Kiel, which was connected to a microplastic filtration unit built by bbe Moldaenke GmbH. (Data submission https://www.emodnet-ingestion.eu/submissions/submissions_details.php?menu=39&tpd=232&step=0103_001volvo%20ocean%20race). The mixed-layer surface water (~1.5 m depending on the heel of the yachts) was sampled in the Baltic Sea, North Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. The laboratory analysis of collected samples was undertaken by GEOMAR (Kiel), under the supervision of Aaron Beck and Toste Tanuha. The data variables includes GPS positions, time, temperature, salinity, flow rates and durations, sample ID, measured microplastic fiber, fragments and total concentration in [particles/m³]. Respetive concentrations of fiber and fragments are also provided for different colors: blue,red, orange, pink, yellow, green, black, clear, purple, grey, brown. Acknowledgements go to 11th Hour, teams AmberSail2 (Tomas Ivanauskas,Regimantas Buozius) and AkzoNobel (Liz Wardley), TheOcean Race Sustainability and Science programmes, bbe Moldaenke GmbH and SubCtech GmbH.