During the first organized international field trip of the project, Tid(y)Up experts from 4 countries set sail on the Danube to start monitoring microplastic contamination in the project area.

The M.V. LUPPA sailing downstream on the Danube, with the Hungarian Parlament in the background (photo: THU)

On a rainy and windy mid-April morning, onboard the heavy-duty workboat M.V. LUPPA, researchers from BOKU (Austria), UNS (Serbia), OVF (Hungary), MULTISALVA (Romania) supported by experts of WESSLING (Hungary) took water and sediment samples with several different methods. Lead partner THU (Hungary) and HAEE (Hungary) were also onboard, documenting the intervention. In the Tid(y)Up project experts compare different methodologies for measuring micro- and macroplastic pollution in water as well as on land.

Tid(y)Up partners MULTISALVA and OVF setting up a sedimentation box 2 weeks prior to the joint sampling survey (photo: MULTISALVA)

For microplastic monitoring, several well established protocols are in use worldwide; the list goes from large nets resembling the plancton traps used by marine biologists through durable metal boxes slowing down the current and filtering out sediment to the simple but effective water pump and filter combo, and so on. Measuring the same section of the river at the same time provides a unique opportunity to compare existing protocols.

The large nets filter the water column in 3 different depths (photo: HAEE)

The Tid(y)Up partnership hereby say thanks to the crew of M.V. LUPPA for the hospitality and for MULTISALVA for securing the scientific survey. 

Text by A.D.Molnar (THU) and G.Hanko, A.Istenes (HAEE)

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