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    • The NOAA NCEI Global Marine Microplastics Data Collection (1972-present)

    Metadata Updated: September 2, 2025

    Microplastics (i.e., plastics measuring less than 5mm) pollution is a growing problem affecting coastal communities, marine ecosystems, aquatic life, and human health. The widespread occurrence of marine microplastics, and the need to curb its threats, require expansive, and continuous monitoring. While microplastic research has increased in recent years and generated significant volumes of data, there is a lack of a robust, open access, and long-term aggregation of this data. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) marine microplastic data collection provides a global open access to marine microplastic data on an easily discoverable and accessible GIS web map and data portal (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/microplastics). The objective of this data portal is to develop a repository where microplastics data are aggregated, archived, and served in a user friendly, consistent, and reliable manner. This work contributes to NCEI’s efforts towards data standardization, integration, harmonization, and interoperability among national and international collaborators for monitoring global marine microplastics.

    Access & Use Information

    License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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    Dates

    Metadata Date 2025-08-19T15:50:16Z
    Metadata Created Date February 1, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date September 2, 2025
    Reference Date(s) April 11, 2018 (publication), July 17, 2025 (revision)
    Frequency Of Update asNeeded

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/accessions

    Other Data Resources

    Graphic Preview

    Preview graphic

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Series
    Metadata Date 2025-08-19T15:50:16Z
    Metadata Created Date February 1, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date September 2, 2025
    Reference Date(s) April 11, 2018 (publication), July 17, 2025 (revision)
    Responsible Party (Point of Contact)
    Contact Email
    Guid gov.noaa.nodc:NCEI-Marine-Microplastics
    Access Constraints Cite as: Nyadjro, Ebenezer; Webster, Jennifer; Boyer, Tim P.; Cebrian, Just; Collazo, Leonard; Kaltenberger, Gunnar; Larsen, Kirsten; Lau, Yee; Mickle, Paul; Toft, Tiffany; Wang, Zhankun (2018). The NOAA NCEI Global Marine Microplastics Data Collection (1972-present). [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/NCEI-Marine-Microplastics. Accessed [date]., Use liability: NOAA and NCEI cannot provide any warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of furnished data. Users assume responsibility to determine the usability of these data. The user is responsible for the results of any application of this data for other than its intended purpose.
    Bbox East Long 180
    Bbox North Lat 90
    Bbox South Lat -72
    Bbox West Long -180
    Coupled Resource
    Frequency Of Update asNeeded
    Graphic Preview Description Preview graphic
    Graphic Preview File https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/gfx?id=gov.noaa.nodc:NCEI-Marine-Microplastics
    Graphic Preview Type PNG
    Harvest Object Id 99b1bc80-1763-4b27-8ef9-a1c91cb05386
    Harvest Source Id c084a438-6f6b-470d-93e0-16aeddb9f513
    Harvest Source Title NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/accessions
    Licence accessLevel: Public
    Lineage
    Metadata Language eng
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-180.0, -72.0], [180.0, -72.0], [180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, -72.0]]]}
    Progress onGoing
    Spatial Data Service Type
    Spatial Reference System
    Spatial Harvester True
    Temporal Extent Begin 1972-04-20

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