Nano- and Microplastic Abundance, analyzed with Epifluorescence microscopy, collected aboard the student cruise on R/V Falkor (2013).

Surface seawater was collected in stainless steel buckets on a transect from Seattle to Honolulu, in October 2013. Surface seawater samples were filtered on to 5-µm pore polycarbonate filters, and frozen at sea for later analysis. Once back on land, the frozen transparent polycarbonate (PC) filters were filtered on an all-glass apparatus and then imaged with modified epifluorescence microscopy techniques for microplastic particles. All microplastic particles were analyzed for plastic shape, length, surface area, and fluorescence.