The column headings in the Data are:

YEAR
Actual Sampling year
Season
seasons run from Oct in one year to end January in following year - exceptions noted in text
Cruise
Letter refers to ship: S=MRV Scotia, A= MRV alba na Mara, SJM=Sir John Murray (SEPA) eg 0120S is the first cruise of 2020 on the MRV Scotia
Region
Scottish Marine or Offshore Region
Field_ID
Descriptive name of towing site
TOW_ID
made up of cruise number and tow number for the cruise
DATE_Deploy
Date of deployment dd/mm/yyyy
TIME_Deploy
Time of deployment hh:mm
decLat_Deploy
Decimal Latitude at deployment (WGS84)
decLong_Deploy
Decimal Longitude at deployment (WGS84)
DATE_Retrieve
Date of sampler retrieval dd/mm/yyyy
TIME_Retrieve
Time of sampler retrieval hh:mm
decLat_Retrieve
Decimal latitude at retrieval (WGS84)
decLong_Retrieve
Decimal longitude at retrieval (WGS84)
FLOW_METER_READING_deploy
The revolution count of flow meter at time of deployment (used for calculating tow length)
FLOW_METER_READING_retrieve
The revolution count of flow meter at time of retrieval (used for calculating tow length)
Tow_length (m)
calculated by subtracting deploy from retrieve and multiplying by 0.3 (1 revolution of flow meter = 0.3m)
SUM_micro_km2
microplastics per km squared sea surface
SUM_Macro_km2
macroplastics (greater than 5 mm) per km squared sea surface
fibres_LTE5mm_ km2
fibre items less than or equal to 5mm per km squared sea surface
beads_LTE5mm_ km2**
bead items less than or equal to 5mm per km squared sea surface
polystyrene_LTE5mm_ km2
polystyrene items less than or equal to 5mm per km squared sea surface
fragments_LTE5mm_ km2
fragment items less than or equal to 5mm per km squared sea surface
film_LET5mm_ km2
film items less than or equal to 5mm per km squared sea surface
nurdles_LTE5mm_ km2
nurdle items less than or equal to 5mm per km squared sea surface
paint_flakes_LET5mm_ km2
paint flake items less than or equal to 5mm per km squared sea surface
fibres_GT5mm_km2
fibre items greater than 5mm per km squared sea surface
beads_GT5mm_km2
bead items greater than 5mm per km squared sea surface
polystyrene_GT5mm_km2
polystyrene items greater than 5mm per km squared sea surface
fragments_GT5mm_km2
fragment items greater than 5mm per km squared sea surface
film_GT5mm_km2
film items greater than 5mm per km squared sea surface
nurdles_GT5mm_km2
nurdle items greater than 5mm per km squared sea surface
paint_flakes_GT5mm_km2
paint flake items greater than 5mm per km squared sea surface
TOTAL_LTE5mm_count
Total count of items less than or equal to 5mm in sample
TOTAL_GT5mm_count
Total count of items greater than 5mm in sample
fibres_LTE5mm_count
Count of fibre items less than or equal to 5mm in sample
** beads_LTE5mm_count**
Count of bead items less than or equal to 5mm in sample
polystyrene_LTE5mm_count
Count of polystyrene items less than or equal to 5mm in sample
fragments_LTE5mm_count
Count of fragment items less than or equal to 5mm in sample
film_LTE5mm_count
Count of film items less than or equal to 5mm in sample
nurdles_LTE5mm_count
Count of nurdle items less than or equal to 5mm in sample
paint_flakes_LTE5mm_count
Count of paint flake items less than or equal to 5mm in sample
fibres_GT5mm_count
Count of fibre items greater than 5mm in sample
beads_GT5mm_count
Count of bead items greater than 5mm in sample
polystyrene_GT5mm_count
Count of polystyrene items greater than 5mm in sample
fragments_GT5mm_count
Count of fragment items greater than 5mm in sample
film_GT5mm_count
Count of film items greater than 5mm in sample
nurdles_GT5mm_count
Count of nurdle items greater than 5mm in sample
paint_flakes_GT5mm_count
Count of paint flake items greater than 5mm in sample