Plastic Pirates - Go Europe!: Floating macro-, meso- and microlitter data collected by citizens in rivers in Europe between 2022 and 2024

Floating macro-, meso- and microlitter data collected by school children from the surface water of European rivers and streams in the period 2022-2024 for the Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! project. The data have been validated by experts. (Micro)litter particles have been analysed in the lab by experts to assess their characteristics. Acknowledgement: These data have been collected by numerous school schildren and their teachers from primary and secondary schools. We would like to thank all of them for their valuable contributions. Over the years, countless people have contributed to the Plastic Pirates project. The concept for it is based on the citizen science projects Científicos de la Basura and Following the Pathways of Litter and has been continously developed by colleagues from Kiel Science Factory (Germany), the Científicos de la Basura at Universidad Católica del Norte (Chile), the Ecologic Institute (Germany) and the partner institutions of the Plastic Pirates - Go Europe! initiative. The design of the material was done by familie redlich AG, KOMPAKTMEDIEN, the Ecologic Institute and the DLR Project Management Agency (Germany). The data files contain data on the amount of floating litter observed, the sampling effort and the characteristics (size, type, colour, material) of the (micro)litter particles. The data are collected in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Portugal and Slovenia during the autumn 2022, spring 2023, autumn 2023 and spring 2024 sampling campaigns of the project. The sampling methods used can be found in the Plastic Pirates project booklet (methods for group C and D): https://www.plastic-pirates.eu/en/material/download.本数据集为“塑料海盗——奔赴欧洲！”（Plastic Pirates – Go Europe!）项目的大型、中型与微型漂浮废弃物数据，由中小学生于2022年至2024年间从欧洲河流与溪流的表层水体中采集所得。该数据集已通过专家审核验证，其中的（微）废弃物颗粒均由专家在实验室完成分析，以明确其各项特征。 致谢：本数据集由众多中小学的学生及其教师共同采集完成，谨向所有为此贡献宝贵力量的人员致以诚挚谢意。 多年来，无数人为“塑料海盗”项目付出了心血。本项目的理念源自两项公民科学项目——《垃圾科学家》（Científicos de la Basura）与《追踪废弃物路径》（Following the Pathways of Litter），并由德国基尔科学工厂、智利北天主教大学《垃圾科学家》团队、德国生态研究所，以及“塑料海盗——奔赴欧洲！”倡议的合作机构持续推进完善。本项目相关材料的设计由familie redlich AG、KOMPAKTMEDIEN、德国生态研究所与德国航空航天中心（DLR）项目管理局联合完成。 本数据集文件涵盖观测到的漂浮废弃物数量、采样强度，以及（微）废弃物颗粒的各项特征，包括尺寸、类型、颜色与材质。本项目于2022年秋季、2023年春季、2023年秋季及2024年春季开展采样工作，数据集采集自奥地利、比利时、匈牙利、葡萄牙与斯洛文尼亚的采样点位。本次采样所采用的方法可查阅《塑料海盗项目手册》（C组与D组采样方法）：https://www.plastic-pirates.eu/en/material/download。