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Little is known about pollutant concentrations in marine remote areas such as the Porcupine Bank in the NE Atlantic Ocean. Remote locations are much less studied than the more readily accessible coastal areas, nevertheless, are of great importance both to unveil how far human influence has reached and, are more challenging, to infer background concentrations (BCs) of naturally occurring and/or anthropogenic pollutants. Knowledge of contaminant background levels are critical for establishing remediation and management strategies; in addition, background assessment is heavily emphasised in legislative monitoring requirements. Obtaining suitable sampling locations to assess background concentrations can be challenging, as samples should match characteristics to the target area and not be impacted by historical or current inputs of the chemical substances of study. Anthropogenic impacts generally deem local-based sampling to be unsuitable to infer background pollution values. Sampling in remote areas such as the Porcupine Bank better fulfils low impact and pressure requirements making them more suitable for the derivation of background concentration estimates for organic compounds and metals. The total concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and metal(loid)s in deep sea sediments were evaluated and both an environmental status and a set of concentration data were adequate to derive BCs concentrations is presented. Concentration data indicated, in comparison with previous published data, trace level presence of PAHs and metal(loids) in sediments from the Porcupine Bank. These values will provide a valuable tool to identify the natural presence of organic and inorganic compounds and be the basis to perform a sound environmental assessment.

Plastic pollution is a global concern. The world's production continues to increase yearly, reaching more than 367 million tons in 2020 [1]. Part of these plastics are directly manufactured as microplastics (MPs) while another fraction becomes MPs as a result of the degradation processes of larger plastics into microsized particles. In this context, MPs have already been found in the hydrosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere and, recently, atmosphere. However, the presence of MPs in the atmosphere has been poorly studied. The objective of this work was the systematic monitoring of the deposition of MPs in areas of Spain with different characteristics (population, economic activities, and climate) using a common method for sampling, quantification, and identification during the four seasons of a one-year sampling campaign with the purpose of clarifying the role of the atmosphere in the fate and dispersion of MPs. This was possible thanks to the collaboration of several Spanish research groups in the project Thematic Network of Micro- and Nanoplastics in the Environment

Plastic litter has been widely documented in our oceans, leading to growing worldwide concerns regarding its potential impact on the marine environment. A large proportion of this plastic accumulates at the bottom of the ocean, resulting in a need to monitor and quantify seafloor litter. Seafloor litter monitoring is mostly performed using benthic beam trawls, which have several limitations and environmental implications. New innovative ways to document and address seafloor litter are therefore necessary and requested by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14.1.1b), the Oslo Paris Convention (OSPAR) and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). This systematic review gives an overview of the state-of-the-art of 14 current underwater technologies that are eligible for future in situ detection of plastic litter on the seafloor based on 101 publications. A set of objectives and a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale were used to benchmark the technologies and revealed that the most suitable system is often very scenario-specific and, therefore, demands investments in more than one specific group of technologies. A decision tool was established to determine the most suitable technique for a range of different situations. This review indicates that most of these technologies are currently at low-middle TRLs, requiring several more development, testing and commercialization steps before they can be applied effectively in marine field conditions. However, these technologies, alone or in combination, have the potential to contribute to the establishment of more robust global environmental indicators and monitoring programs for plastic pollution.

Pressure, temperature, conductivity, and derived salinity data with their associated quality flags from the Vigo section of the monitoring program "Oceanography Time Series in Northern Spain" (RADIALES; https://www.seriestemporales-ieo.net/), carried out by the Instituto Español de Oceanografía. Data were collected biweekly to monthly from August 1987 to September 2020 in the interior of the Ría de Vigo and its adjacent shelf, at four stations with depths ranging from 29 m to 148 m. Data were acquired using MARK III, Sea-Bird Scientific 19 SeaCAT, SBE 9 Plus and SBE 25 Sealogger CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) profilers. They were processed using Sea-Bird Scientific's Seasoft software package, and subsequently, quality controlled with both ctdcheck (https://github.com/PabloOtero/CTDChecker) and Ocean Data View software.

The Galician rías and their adjacent continental shelf form part of the northern boundary of the Canary Current upwelling system (CanCUS), one of the world's major eastern boundary upwelling ecosystems (EBUEs). During summer, prevailing northerly winds export surface water offshore, allowing deeper, cooler, nutrient-rich water to rise, creating a fertilizing effect on coastal waters that support valuable fisheries and aquaculture economy. This data article describes a time series of hydrographic data collected on a biweekly to monthly frequency from August 1987 to September 2020 in the interior of the Ría de Vigo (one of the aforementioned Galician rías) and its adjacent shelf. This monitoring effort results in the longest sampling series in the area up to 2020, providing high value for understanding the connectivity processes between the coastal embayment and the adjacent shelf, changes in ocean climate, as well as ecosystem structure and functioning. Data were collected with vertical pressure, temperature and conductivity profilers, varying the profiler instrument over time (MARK III, SBE 9 Plus, SBE 19, SBE 25). Data were collected at four stations with depths ranging from 29 m to 148 m, although only two of these stations cover the full temporal range of the monitoring program. Due to the temporal extent of the sampling, the data have been processed with different techniques and by different technicians throughout the duration of the monitoring program. To ensure data consistency and increase data reusability, all data have been now reprocessed under the same criteria, quality-controlled, and unified in this dataset. The dataset in both MedAtlas SeaDataNet ASCII and CF-compliant netcdf formats are available via SEANOE repository at: https://www.seanoe.org/data/00828/94008/.