Plattform Platform	Reise-Nr. Cruise-No.	Zeitraum Period	Projekt Project	Arbeitsgebiet Working area
Alkor	AL596	26.06.2023 - 01.07.2023	LABPLAS	North Sea Southern North Sea

Fahrtleiter Chief Scientist	Institut Institute	Auslaufhafen Port of departure	Einlaufhafen Port of return	Stationskarte Station map	Schiffsroute Trackchart
Beck Aaron	Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR)	Kiel	Kiel

Ziel der Reise / Objectives of Cruise:

The North Sea Plastics I & II cruises (AL596 and AL586 - completed Feb. 2023) are integral to a framework for mapping the distribution of microplastics and their associated chemical contaminants in the coastal southern North Sea and assessing spatial and temporal variation in the delivery and fate of these land-derived pollutants. These cruises aim at continuing and extending research for studying especially the smallest plastic particles (Small Micro- and Nano- Plastics, SMNP) and chemical additive compounds that leach from microplastic polymers into seawater. North Sea Plastics I & II focus on the southern North Sea as the ultimate sink for river-borne plastic pollution from the Elbe and Thames River catchments, which will be studied simultaneously as part of the LABPLAS project. Due to time constraints, five of the six planned full stations were sampled, spanning the full study region. An additional five intermediate stations were sampled only with neuston catamaran net. The sampling plan was identical at each station: a so-called "snow catcher" was deployed first to collect microplastics in suspended particles (or "marine snow"). This was followed by deployment of a CTD-Niskin rosette to collect water samples and measure the salinity and temperature structure of the water column. In parallel, Garrett screen samplers from the ship's bow to collect samples from the sea surface microlayer. A vertically-towed WP2 net (150 ?m mesh size) was then deployed three times to collect zooplankton from the entire water column. The WP2 net was followed by surface sediment sampling using a Van Veen grab. Finally, a catamaran net (300 ?m mesh size) was deployed to collect zooplankton and particles floating near the sea surface Data collection: Neuston net (floating microplastics and zooplankton), WP2 net (water column microplastics and zooplankton), filtered surface water microplastics, CTD (nanoplastics, dissolved chemicals, CTD sensor data), microplastics in surface sediments, sea surface microlayer

Messungen / Measurements