In 2014, 94 paired neuston net samples (0.5 mm mesh) were collected from the surface waters of Lake Superior. These samples comprise the most comprehensive surface water survey for microplastics of any of the Great Lakes to date, and the first to employ double net trawls. Microplastic abundance estimates showed wide variability, ranging between 4000 to more than 100,000 particles/km² with most locations having abundances between 20,000 to 50,000 particles/km². The average abundance in Lake Superior was ~30,000 particles/km² which was similar to previous estimates within this Laurentian Great Lake and suggests a total count of more than 2.4 billion (1.7 to 3.3 billion, 95% confidence interval) particles across the lake’s surface. Distributions of plastic particles, characterized by size fraction and type, differed between nearshore and offshore samples, and between samples collected in the eastern versus western portion of the lake. Most of the particles found were fibers (67%), and most (62%) were contained in the smallest classified size fraction (0.50–1 mm). The most common type of polymer found was polyethylene (51%), followed by polypropylene (19%). This is consistent with global plastics production and results obtained from other studies. No statistically significant difference was detected between the paired net samples, indicating that single net sampling should produce a representative estimate of microplastic particle abundance and distribution within a body of water.

2014 年，从苏必利尔湖的地表水中采集了 94 个成对的 Neuston 网样品（0.5 毫米网孔）。这些样本包括迄今为止五大湖中最全面的微塑料地表水调查，也是第一个使用双网拖网的样本。微塑料丰度估计值显示出很大的可变性，范围在 4000 到超过 100,000 个粒子/km ^{2 之间}，大多数位置的丰度在 20,000 到 50,000 个粒子/km ^{2 之间}。苏必利尔湖的平均丰度约为 30,000 个粒子/km ²这与之前在劳伦森大湖中的估计相似，表明湖面上的粒子总数超过 24 亿（1.7 到 33 亿，95% 的置信区间）。塑料颗粒的分布（以尺寸分数和类型为特征）在近岸和近海样品之间以及在湖的东部和西部收集的样品之间不同。大多数发现的颗粒是纤维 (67%)，大多数 (62%) 包含在最小的分级尺寸部分 (0.50-1 毫米) 中。最常见的聚合物类型是聚乙烯 (51%)，其次是聚丙烯 (19%)。这与全球塑料生产和其他研究的结果一致。配对的网络样本之间没有检测到统计学上的显着差异，