Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

CYGNSS L3 Ocean Microplastic Concentration V1.0

Published by NASA/ESSP/UMICH/CYGNSS;NASA/JPL/PODAAC | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Catalog Last Checked: June 23, 2026 at 08:52 PM | Dataset Last Updated: June 22, 2026
This dataset contains the version 1.0 CYGNSS level 3 ocean microplastic concentration data record, which provides 18 netCDF files, each containing one month of daily gridded maps of microplastic number density (#/km^2). Microplastic concentration number density is indirectly estimated by an empirical relationship between ocean surface roughness and wind speed (Evans and Ruf, 2021). User caution is advised in regions containing independent, non-correlative factors affecting ocean surface roughness, such as anomalous atmospheric conditions within the Intertropical Convergence Zone, biogenic surfactants (such as algal blooms), oil spills, etc. This product reports microplastic concentration on a daily temporal and 0.25-degree latitude/longitude spatial grid with 30-day, 1 degree latitude/longitude feature resolution, as constrained by the binning and spatiotemporal averaging of the Mean Square Slope (MSS) anomaly (i.e., difference between measured and predicted ocean surface roughness for a given wind speed).

Resources

14 resources available

Find Related Datasets

Search by Tags

Click any tag below to search for similar datasets

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel public
bureauCode 
[
  "026:00"
]
contactPoint 
{
  "fn": "Earthdata Forum",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:earthdata-support@nasa.gov"
}
description This dataset contains the version 1.0 CYGNSS level 3 ocean microplastic concentration data record, which provides 18 netCDF files, each containing one month of daily gridded maps of microplastic number density (#/km^2). Microplastic concentration number density is indirectly estimated by an empirical relationship between ocean surface roughness and wind speed (Evans and Ruf, 2021). User caution is advised in regions containing independent, non-correlative factors affecting ocean surface roughness, such as anomalous atmospheric conditions within the Intertropical Convergence Zone, biogenic surfactants (such as algal blooms), oil spills, etc. This product reports microplastic concentration on a daily temporal and 0.25-degree latitude/longitude spatial grid with 30-day, 1 degree latitude/longitude feature resolution, as constrained by the binning and spatiotemporal averaging of the Mean Square Slope (MSS) anomaly (i.e., difference between measured and predicted ocean surface roughness for a given wind speed).
distribution 
[
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Original Metadata",
    "format": "ISO",
    "mediaType": "text/xml",
    "conformsTo": "http://www.isotc211.org/2005/gmi",
    "description": "The metadata's original source.",
    "downloadURL": "https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/concepts/C2142677420-POCLOUD.iso19115"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "http://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2021.3081691"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "https://archive.podaac.earthdata.nasa.gov/podaac-ops-cumulus-docs/cygnss/open/L3/docs/148-0401-2_L3_Microplastic_netCDF_Data_Dictionary.xlsx"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "PDF",
    "mediaType": "application/pdf",
    "downloadURL": "https://archive.podaac.earthdata.nasa.gov/podaac-ops-cumulus-docs/cygnss/open/L3/docs/148-0402-1_L3_Microplsatic_ATBD_Released.pdf"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "TXT",
    "mediaType": "text/plain",
    "downloadURL": "https://archive.podaac.earthdata.nasa.gov/podaac-ops-cumulus-docs/cygnss/open/L3/microplastic/README.txt"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/virtual-directory/collections/C2142677420-POCLOUD"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "https://cygnss.engin.umich.edu/"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12741920"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "https://github.com/podaac/data-readers"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "https://github.com/podaac/data-subscriber"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "https://opendap.earthdata.nasa.gov"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/CitingPODAAC"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "JPEG",
    "mediaType": "image/jpeg",
    "downloadURL": "https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/Podaac/thumbnails/CYGNSS_L3_MICROPLASTIC_V1.0.jpg"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/granules?p=C2142677420-POCLOUD"
  }
]
identifier 10.5067/CYGNS-L3M10
keyword 
[
  "earth-science-water-quality-oceans-sea-surface-contaminants"
]
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-06-22
programCode 
[
  "026:000"
]
publisher 
{
  "name": "NASA/ESSP/UMICH/CYGNSS;NASA/JPL/PODAAC",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
spatial 
"["CARTESIAN", [{"NorthBoundingCoordinate": 37.125, "WestBoundingCoordinate": -180.0, "EastBoundingCoordinate": 180.0, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": -37.125}]]"
temporal 2017-04-02/2018-09-25
theme 
[
  "Earth Science"
]
title CYGNSS L3 Ocean Microplastic Concentration V1.0

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov