Vanuatu's Port Vila Bay and Mele Bay sediment samples from 2018 provide data on microplastic particle counts per 5g of sediment. The dataset includes 20 sediment grabs with GPS coordinates, deployment times, blank controls, and particle size analysis, plus ATR-FT-IR spectral profiles and images of individual plastic particles. It was aggregated by the Government Digital Service from the eu_open_data platform.
Use Cases
- Mapping microplastic pollution hotspots based on GPS coordinates of sediment grabs.
- Analyzing particle size distribution in sediment based on the particulate size analysis (PSA) data.
- Identifying polymer types of plastic particles based on the ATR-FT-IR spectral profiles.
- Assessing field sampling quality and potential contamination based on the included blank control information.
Strengths
- Includes 20 spatially referenced sediment samples from two distinct bays.
- Provides complementary data types: quantitative particle counts, spectral analysis, and particle images.
- Contains methodological controls, such as blank samples, which can help assess data quality.
Limitations
- Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
Provenance
- Source
- Government Digital Service (via eu_open_data platform)
- Collection Method
- Sediment collected from grabs deployed in coastal bays.
- Time Range
- 2018
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Port Vila Bay and Mele Bay, Efate Island, Vanuatu