The results of the GOES Atlantic survey are published as an open preprint in Ocean Science, and the paper is now under peer review. Read the preprint at https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3979.
Thirteen sailing yachts sampled the surface ocean every 12 hours between the Canary Islands, Cape Verde and the Caribbean, between 8 January and 6 February 2022. Image analysis sorted 18,142 particles larger than 20 microns in 1,466 microscope photographs, which together represent 146.6 litres of seawater.
Dark, combustion-like particles appeared in 70% of the photographs and averaged about 64 per litre. Plastic fibres averaged about 5 per litre, and plastic fragments averaged about 1.4 per litre. The samples held five animals, about 34 per cubic metre, and no small zooplankton were confirmed.
The revised manuscript now under review updates several numbers from the July preprint, and this page uses the revised values. The counts, particle sizes, crew logs and analysis code are openly archived on Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21477681.