Microplastic Measurement Journey around the World from the Volvo Ocean Race 2017/2018 Turn the Tide on Plastic and AkzoNobel by GEOMAR Kiel

The provided unique microplastic data was generated from the Leg 0,1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017/18. The samples were collected onboard "Turn the Tide on Plastic" (all Legs) and team "AkzoNobel" (Leg 7 and 9 till 11). The extraction of the stainless-steel filter cakes was performed in reference to Lenz et al. 2015 with ultrasonication. The solutions were measured with a microfluidic flow capillary Raman spectrometer in reflection mode and further analysed with holography. The data variables include GPS position, time, filter volume [L], measured microplastic concentration [particles/m³], error of microplastic concentration [particles/m³], Leg Number and yacht (1 = Turn the Tide on Plastic, 2 = AkzoNobel). Related in-situ oceanographic measurements are uploaded to the NOAA NCEI S2N database (NCEI Accession 0170967). The instrument used for underway measurements was the specially built OceanPack RACE manufactured by SubCtech GmbH in Kiel. The connected microplastic filtration unit and lab analysis prototype for microplastic (Raman) was built by bbe Moldaenke. The mixed-layer surface water (~1.5 m depending on the heel of the yachts) was sampled in the Mediterranean Sea, the North and South Atlantic Ocean, South Indian Ocean, West and South Pacific Ocean and others from 2017-10-22 to 2018-07-07. Measurements were performed by GEOMAR and acknowledgements go to the Cluster of Excellence Future Ocean (Funding for the Project and Position of Dr.-Ing. Sören B. Gutekunst), Volvo Cars, teams Turn the Tide on Plastic/AkzoNobel, the Volvo Ocean Race sustainability programme, bbe Moldaenke GmbH and SubCtech GmbH. Leg overview and yacht samples: Leg 0: Lisbon to Alicante/Spain TTOP Leg 1: Alicante to Lisbon/Portugal TTOP Leg 2: Lisbon to Cape Town/South Africa TTOP Leg 3: Cape Town to Melbourne/Australia TTOP Leg 4: Melbourne to Hong Kong/China TTOP Leg 5: not sampled - Leg 6: Hong Kong to Auckland/New Zealand TTOP Leg 7: Auckland to Itajaí/Brazil TTOP & AN Leg 8: Itajaí to Newport/U.S.A. TTOP Leg 9: Newport to Cardiff/U.K. TTOP & AN Leg 10: Cardiff to Gothenburg/Sweden TTOP & AN Leg 11 Gothenburg to The Hague/Netherlands TTOP & AN Leg 12: The Hague to Lisbon/Portugal TTOP In addition to the Marine Litter data also weather observations were collected and these are available from: https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0170967