AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
European floating micro-litter standardized, harmonized and validated datasets 2011/2020 v2021

EMODnet Chemistry aims to provide access to marine chemistry data sets and derived data products concerning eutrophication, ocean acidification, contaminants and litter. The chosen parameters are relevant for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), in particular for descriptors 5, 8, 9 and 10. These datasets contain standardized, harmonized and validated data collections of floating micro-litter. 
For floating micro-litter, the harmonized datasets contain all unrestricted EMODnet Chemistry data on floating micro-litter data, including 907 CDI records. The temporal range covered is from 2011-06-14 to 2020-12-02. Data was harmonized  by ‘Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, Division of Oceanography (OGS/NODC)’ from Italy.		
Data is formatted following Guidelines and formats for gathering and management of micro-litter data sets on a European scale (floating and sediment micro-litter), which can be found at: https://doi.org/10.6092/d3e239ec-f790-4ee4-9bb4-c32ef39b426d. Parameter names in these datasets are based on P01, BODC Parameter Usage Vocabulary, which is available at: https://vocab.seadatanet.org/p01-facet-search. Each measurement value has a quality flag indicator. The resulting data collections are harmonized, using ODV Software and following a common methodology for all Sea Regions. 
Harmonization means that: (1) unit conversion is carried out to express variables with a limited set of measurement units and (2) merging of variables described by different “local names”, but corresponding exactly to the same concepts in BODC P01 vocabulary.
The harmonized dataset can be downloaded as ODV collection and spreadsheet (TXT file), which is composed of a metadata header followed by tab separated values. Both formats can be opened with ODV Software for visualization (More information can be found at: https://www.seadatanet.org/Software/ODV ).
The original datasets can be searched and downloaded from EMODnet Chemistry Chemistry CDI Data and Discovery Access Service: https://emodnet-chemistry.maris.nl/search
Beach Litter - Composition of litter according to material categories in percent normalized per beach per year - EU-MSFD monitoring 2001/2021 v2021

This visualization product displays marine macro-litter (> 2.5cm) material categories percentage per beach per year from Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) monitoring surveys.

EMODnet Chemistry included the collection of marine litter in its 3rd phase. Since the beginning of 2018, data of beach litter have been gathered and processed in the EMODnet Chemistry Marine Litter Database (MLDB).
The harmonization of all the data has been the most challenging task considering the heterogeneity of the data sources, sampling protocols and reference lists used on a European scale.


Preliminary processing were necessary to harmonize all the data:
		- Exclusion of OSPAR 1000 protocol: in order to follow the approach of OSPAR that it is not including these data anymore in the monitoring;
		- Selection of MSFD surveys only (exclusion of other monitoring, cleaning and research operations);
		- Exclusion of beaches without coordinates;
		- Some litter types like organic litter, small fragments (paraffin and wax; items > 2.5cm) and pollutants have been removed. The list of selected items is attached to this metadata. This list was created using EU Marine Beach Litter Baselines and EU Threshold Value for Macro Litter on Coastlines from JRC (these two documents are attached to this metadata);
		- Exclusion of the "feaces" category: it concerns more exactly the items of dog excrements in bags of the OSPAR (item code: 121) and ITA (item code: IT59) reference lists;
		- Normalization of survey lengths to 100m & 1 survey / year: in some case, the survey length was not exactly 100m, so in order to be able to compare the abundance of litter from different beaches a normalization is applied using this formula:
		Number of items (normalized by 100 m) = Number of litter per items x (100 / survey length)
		Then, this normalized number of items is summed to obtain the total normalized number of litter for each survey.
		Sometimes the survey length was null or equal to 0. Assuming that the MSFD protocol has been applied, the length has been set at 100m in these cases.
		
	
To calculate percentages for each material category, formula applied is:
Material (%)  = (∑number of items (normalized at 100 m) of each material category)*100 / (∑number of items (normalized at 100 m)  of all categories)

The material categories differ between reference lists (OSPAR, ITA, TSG_ML, UNEP, UNEP_MARLIN). In order to apply a common procedure for all the surveys, the material categories have been harmonized.

More information is available in the attached documents.


Warning: the absence of data on the map doesn't necessarily mean that they don't exist, but that no information has been entered in the Marine Litter Database for this area.
Beach litter - Beaches locations & litter list used - Other sources 2001/2021 v2023

This visualization product displays beaches locations where non-MSFD monitoring surveys, research & cleaning operations have been applied to collate data on macrolitter (> 2.5 cm).
Reference lists associated with these protocols have been indicated with different colors in the map.

EMODnet Chemistry included the collection of marine litter in its 3rd phase. Since the beginning of 2018, data of beach litter have been gathered and processed in the EMODnet Chemistry Marine Litter Database (MLDB).
The harmonization of all the data has been the most challenging task considering the heterogeneity of the data sources, sampling protocols and reference lists used on a European scale.


Preliminary processing were necessary to harmonize all the data:
		- Exclusion of OSPAR 1000 protocol: in order to follow the approach of OSPAR that it is not including these data anymore in the monitoring;
		- Selection of surveys from non-MSFD monitoring, cleaning and research operations;
		- Exclusion of beaches without coordinates;
		- Some categories & some litter types like organic litter, small fragments (paraffin and wax; items > 2.5cm) and pollutants have been removed. The list of selected items is attached to this metadata. This list was created using EU Marine Beach Litter Baselines and EU Threshold Value for Macro Litter on Coastlines from JRC (these two documents are attached to this metadata).

More information is available in the attached documents.


Warning: the absence of data on the map doesn't necessarily mean that they don't exist, but that no information has been entered in the Marine Litter Database for this area.
Micro litter - Type of litter per net - Research and monitoring protocols 2011/2023 v2025

This visualization product displays the type of litter in percent per net per year from research and monitoring protocols.
EMODnet Chemistry included the collection of marine litter in its 3rd phase. Before 2021, there was no coordinated effort at the regional or European scale for micro-litter. Given this situation, EMODnet Chemistry proposed to adopt the data gathering and data management approach as generally applied for marine data, i.e., populating metadata and data in the CDI Data Discovery and Access service using dedicated SeaDataNet data transport formats. EMODnet Chemistry is currently the official EU collector of micro-litter data from Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) National Monitoring activities (descriptor 10).
A series of specific standard vocabularies or standard terms related to micro-litter have been added to SeaDataNet NVS (NERC Vocabulary Server) Common Vocabularies to describe the micro-litter.
European micro-litter data are collected by the National Oceanographic Data Centres (NODCs). Micro-litter map products are generated from NODCs data after a test of the aggregated collection including data and data format checks and data harmonization.

A filter is applied to represent only micro-litter sampled according to research and monitoring protocols as MSFD monitoring.

To calculate percentages for each type, formula applied is:
Type (%) = (∑number of particles of each type)*100 / (∑number of particles of all type)
When the number of micro-litters was not filled or was equal zero, it was not possible to calculate the percentage.

Standard vocabularies for micro-litter types are taken from Seadatanet's H01 library (https://vocab.seadatanet.org/v_bodc_vocab_v2/search.asp?lib=H01 ). Some morphological types of micro-litters may have been sampled but were not defined by the protocole applied during the survey. They are represented as « undefined micro-litter items ».

Warnings: - the absence of data on the map does not necessarily mean that they do not exist, but that no information has been entered in the National Oceanographic Data Centre (NODC) for this area.
- since 03/07/2023, the preferred label « Undefined micro-litter items » has been integrated into the H01 library whereas the labels « microplastic items », « non-plastic man-made micro-particles (e.g. glass, metal, tar) » and «non-plastic filaments (natural fibres, rubber) » have been deprecated. When defined, the material or polymer type can be checked directly in the source data.
Beach litter - Median number of fishing & aquaculture related plastic items normalized per 100m & to 1 survey - EU-MSFD monitoring 2001/2023 v2025

This visualization product displays the fishing & aquaculture related plastic items abundance of marine macro-litter (> 2.5cm) per beach per year from Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) monitoring surveys.


EMODnet Chemistry included the collection of marine litter in its 3rd phase. Since the beginning of 2018, data of beach litter have been gathered and processed in the EMODnet Chemistry Marine Litter Database (MLDB).

The harmonization of all the data has been the most challenging task considering the heterogeneity of the data sources, sampling protocols and reference lists used on a European scale.


Preliminary processings were necessary to harmonize all the data:

- Exclusion of OSPAR 1000 protocol: in order to follow the approach of OSPAR that it is not including these data anymore in the monitoring;

- Selection of MSFD surveys only (exclusion of other monitoring, cleaning and research operations);

- Exclusion of beaches without coordinates;

- Selection of fishing and aquaculture related plastic items only. The list of selected items is attached to this metadata. This list was created using EU Marine Beach Litter Baselines, the European Threshold Value for Macro Litter on Coastlines and the Joint list of litter categories for marine macro-litter monitoring from JRC (these three documents are attached to this metadata). The selection was adapted to the Joint list of litter categories fishing gears identification and therefore contains some differences with the selection made for previously published versions of this product;

- Normalization of survey lengths to 100m & 1 survey / year: in some case, the survey length was not exactly 100m, so in order to be able to compare the abundance of litter from different beaches a normalization is applied using this formula:

Number of fishing & aquaculture related plastic items of the survey (normalized by 100 m) = Number of fishing & aquaculture related items of the survey x (100 / survey length)

Then, this normalized number of fishing & aquaculture related plastic items is summed to obtain the total normalized number of fishing & aquaculture related plastic items for each survey. Finally, the median abundance of fishing & aquaculture related plastic items for each beach and year is calculated from these normalized abundances of fishing & aquaculture related items per survey.

Sometimes the survey length was null or equal to 0. Assuming that the MSFD protocol has been applied, the length has been set at 100m in these cases.


Percentiles 50, 75, 95 & 99 have been calculated taking into account fishing & aquaculture related plastic items from MSFD data for all years.


More information is available in the attached documents.


Warning: the absence of data on the map does not necessarily mean that they do not exist, but that no information has been entered in the Marine Litter Database for this area.
Micro litter - Density per net normalized in grams per km² - Research and monitoring protocols 2011/2020 v2023

This visualization product displays the density of floating micro-litter per net normalized in grams per km² per year from research and monitoring protocols.
EMODnet Chemistry included the collection of marine litter in its 3rd phase. Before 2021, there was no coordinated effort at the regional or European scale for micro-litter. Given this situation, EMODnet Chemistry proposed to adopt the data gathering and data management approach as generally applied for marine data, i.e., populating metadata and data in the CDI Data Discovery and Access service using dedicated SeaDataNet data transport formats. EMODnet Chemistry is currently the official EU collector of micro-litter data from Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) National Monitoring activities (descriptor 10).
A series of specific standard vocabularies or standard terms related to micro-litter have been added to SeaDataNet NVS (NERC Vocabulary Server) Common Vocabularies to describe the micro-litter.
European micro-litter data are collected by the National Oceanographic Data Centres (NODCs). Micro-litter map products are generated from NODCs data after a test of the aggregated collection including data and data format checks and data harmonization.

A filter is applied to represent only micro-litter sampled according to research and monitoring protocols as MSFD monitoring.

Densities were calculated for each net using the following calculation:
Density (weight of particles per km²) = Micro-litter weight / (Sampling effort (km) * Net opening (cm) * 0.00001)

When the weight of microlitters or the net opening was not filled, the density could not be calculated.

Percentiles 50, 75, 95 & 99 have been calculated taking into account data for all years.

Warning: the absence of data on the map doesn't necessarily mean that they don't exist, but that no information has been entered in the National Oceanographic Data Centre (NODC) for this area.
Beach litter - Median of total abundance items normalized per 100m & to 1 survey - EU-MSFD monitoring 2001/2023 v2025

This visualization product displays the total abundance of marine macro-litter (> 2.5cm) per beach per year from Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) monitoring surveys.

EMODnet Chemistry included the collection of marine litter in its 3rd phase. Since the beginning of 2018, data of beach litter have been gathered and processed in the EMODnet Chemistry Marine Litter Database (MLDB).
The harmonization of all the data has been the most challenging task considering the heterogeneity of the data sources, sampling protocols and reference lists used on a European scale.


Preliminary processings were necessary to harmonize all the data:
		- Exclusion of OSPAR 1000 protocol: in order to follow the approach of OSPAR that it is not including these data anymore in the monitoring;
		- Selection of MSFD surveys only (exclusion of other monitoring, cleaning and research operations);
		- Exclusion of beaches without coordinates;
		- Some categories & some litter types like organic litter, small fragments (paraffin and wax; items > 2.5cm) and pollutants have been removed. The list of selected items is attached to this metadata. This list was created using EU Marine Beach Litter Baselines, the European Threshold Value for Macro Litter on Coastlines and the Joint list of litter categories for marine macro-litter monitoring from JRC (these three documents are attached to this metadata);
		- Normalization of survey lengths to 100m & 1 survey / year: in some cases, the survey length was not exactly 100m, so in order to be able to compare the abundance of litter from different beaches a normalization is applied using this formula:
		Number of items (normalized by 100 m) = Number of litter per items x (100 / survey length)
		Then, this normalized number of items is summed to obtain the total normalized number of litter for each survey. Finally, the median abundance for each beach and year is calculated from these normalized abundances per survey.
		Sometimes the survey length was null or equal to 0. Assuming that the MSFD protocol has been applied, the length has been set at 100m in these cases.

Percentiles 50, 75, 95 & 99 have been calculated taking into account MSFD data for all years. 


More information is available in the attached documents.


Warning: the absence of data on the map does not necessarily mean that it does not exist, but that no information has been entered in the Marine Litter Database for this area.
Beach litter - Median number of cigarette related items normalized per 100m & to 1 survey - without UNEP_MARLIN - Other sources 2001/2024 v2025

This visualization product displays the cigarette related items abundance of marine macro-litter (> 2.5cm) per beach per year from non-MSFD monitoring surveys, research & cleaning operations without UNEP-MARLIN data.


EMODnet Chemistry included the collection of marine litter in its 3rd phase. Since the beginning of 2018, data of beach litter have been gathered and processed in the EMODnet Chemistry Marine Litter Database (MLDB).

The harmonization of all the data has been the most challenging task considering the heterogeneity of the data sources, sampling protocols and reference lists used on a European scale.


Preliminary processings were necessary to harmonize all the data:

- Exclusion of OSPAR 1000 protocol: in order to follow the approach of OSPAR that it is not including these data anymore in the monitoring;

- Selection of surveys from non-MSFD monitoring, cleaning and research operations;

- Exclusion of beaches without coordinates;

- Selection of cigarette related items only. The list of selected items is attached to this metadata. This list was created using EU Marine Beach Litter Baselines, the European Threshold Value for Macro Litter on Coastlines and the Joint list of litter categories for marine macro-litter monitoring from JRC (these three documents are attached to this metadata);

- Exclusion of surveys without associated length;

- Exclusion of surveys referring to the UNEP-MARLIN list: the UNEP-MARLIN protocol differs from the other types of monitoring in that cigarette butts are surveyed in a 10m square. To avoid comparing abundances from very different protocols, the choice has been made to distinguish in two maps the cigarette related items results associated with the UNEP-MARLIN list from the others;

- Normalization of survey lengths to 100m & 1 survey / year: in some case, the survey length was not 100m, so in order to be able to compare the abundance of litter from different beaches a normalization is applied using this formula:

Number of cigarette related items of the survey (normalized by 100 m) = Number of cigarette related items of the survey x (100 / survey length)

Then, this normalized number of cigarette related items is summed to obtain the total normalized number of cigarette related items for each survey. Finally, the median abundance of cigarette related items for each beach and year is calculated from these normalized abundances of cigarette related items per survey.


Percentiles 50, 75, 95 & 99 have been calculated taking into account cigarette related items from other sources data (excluding UNEP-MARLIN protocol) for all years.


More information is available in the attached documents.


Warning: the absence of data on the map does not necessarily mean that they do not exist, but that no information has been entered in the Marine Litter Database for this area.
Beach litter - Median number of cigarette related items normalized per 100m & to 1 survey - UNEP_MARLIN only - EU-MSFD monitoring 2012/2022 v2023

This visualization product displays the cigarette related items abundance of marine macro-litter (> 2.5cm) per beach per year from Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) monitoring surveys related to UNEP-MARLIN data only.


EMODnet Chemistry included the collection of marine litter in its 3rd phase. Since the beginning of 2018, data of beach litter have been gathered and processed in the EMODnet Chemistry Marine Litter Database (MLDB).
The harmonization of all the data has been the most challenging task considering the heterogeneity of the data sources, sampling protocols and reference lists used on a European scale.


Preliminary processing were necessary to harmonize all the data:
		- Selection of MSFD surveys only (exclusion of other monitoring, cleaning and research operations);
		- Exclusion of beaches without coordinates;
		- Selection of cigarette related items only. The list of selected items is attached to this metadata. This list was created using EU Marine Beach Litter Baselines and EU Threshold Value for Macro Litter on Coastlines from JRC (these two documents are attached to this metadata);
		- Selection of surveys referring to the UNEP-MARLIN list: the UNEP-MARLIN protocol differs from the other types of monitoring in that cigarette butts are surveyed in a 10m square. To avoid comparing abundances from very different protocols, the choice has been made to distinguish in two maps the cigarette related items results associated with the UNEP-MARLIN list from the others;
		- Normalization of survey lengths to 100m & 1 survey / year: in some case, the survey length was not exactly 100m, so in order to be able to compare the abundance of litter from different beaches a normalization is applied using this formula:
		Number of cigarette related items of the survey (normalized by 100 m) = Number of cigarette related items of the survey x (100 / survey length)
		Then, this normalized number of cigarette related items is summed to obtain the total normalized number of cigarette related items for each survey. Finally, the median abundance of cigarette related items for each beach and year is calculated from these normalized abundances of cigarette related items per survey.
		Sometimes the survey length was null or equal to 0. Assuming that the MSFD protocol has been applied, the length has been set at 100m in these cases.
		
Percentiles 50, 75, 95 & 99 have been calculated taking into account cigarette related items from MSFD monitoring data (UNEP-MARLIN protocol only) for all years.


More information is available in the attached documents.


Warning: the absence of data on the map doesn't necessarily mean that they don't exist, but that no information has been entered in the Marine Litter Database for this area.