About one thousand miles off the coast of California, in an isolated area of the north Pacific ocean known as the North Pacific Gyre, a slowly rotating whirlpool of water swirls in a giant clockwise spiral. At the center of the swirling mass of water sits a relatively still center, inviting the accumulation of whatever debris swirls into it.
Created by a high pressure system of trade and westerly winds, all the oceans of the world have massive, slow-moving gyres. While oceans across the globe have accumulated debris, the north Pacific Gyre is known to have amassed at its core the largest. This giant debris field, commonly known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is estimated to be as large as the state of Texas (some sources say twice the size of Texas).
Scientists and researchers from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography have begun new research on the nature and origin of the Great Pacific Patch, as well as its effect on the local ecosystem and global food chain.
Walk on water
One common misconception of the Great Patch is that there is nothing but plastic and trash from one horizen to the other – like a huge island of trash upon which a person could walk. In fact, the area of the patch is so large, and for the most part the bits of debris in it are so small, that it is often difficult to see the accumulation with the naked eye.
“Certainly one does encounter pieces of plastic stuff that are big enough to see,” says Scripps deputy director for research Robert Knox, “But the other side of the puzzle is all the little bits and pieces of plastic that you can’t even see unless you scoop up a sample of seawater and see what’s in there.”
Along with the little bits of plastic, another big contributor to the patch are “huge masses of fishing nets,” according to Rusty Brainard with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The nets contribute to the destruction of ecosystems around the Hawaiian Islands, says Brainard.
But it is the plastic that is most insidious and deadly. The plastic slowly breaks down into ever smaller bits. Fooling seabirds into thinking it is food, they swoop in and ingest the toxic material.
Many skeletons of seabirds found on the Islands have their guts “just filled with plastic,” leading him and his colleagues to wonder what other animals are eating the plastic. Once the plastic gets into the food chain, it will eventually show up in the human food supply.
The Scripps research expedition, lasting from August 2 through 21 aboard the research vessel New Horizon, will “explore the threats from several angles,” according to a Scripps press release, “With research that includes surveys of plastic distribution, investigations of floating plastic and assessments of impacts on sea life.”
The project is intended to serve as a basis for further scientific study of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch specifically, and more generally how debris patches accumulate in the world’s oceans, their effect on ocean ecosystems, and how best to approach the problem, if possible, of cleaning up the mess.
Follow the project’s progress on the expedition blog.
Sources and further reading
Scripps News
EcoFactory
CNN
Read more on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch on Green Options
There They Go Again: Schnitzer Steel Recycles More Fishing Nets
Activists Make First Attempt to Clean Pacific Garbage Patch
Oprah Shines Light on Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Image Credit: iStockPhoto
About Tom Schueneman
Thank you for allowing me to respond,
I am sorry to see how much skepticism there is concerning the validity of a plastic problem. All you really need to do is Google, ‘Plastic on the Beaches’ then hit ‘images’. That low-tech approach pretty much had me concluding that a serious problem was already in the works. Actually I did add a secondary element to bulk-up my research. I used the tried and true notion that if one sees a roach in their kitchen the safest bet is that you have a ‘roach problem’, not just one disorientated individual. Therefore, plastic showing up in a plethora of diverse forms strewn over the beaches of the earth equals a roach…oh sorry, a ‘plastic problem’ would you not agree?
Well, here’s what I think. I think that if it was up to you you’d probably prefer to spend the funds shutting down plastic bag factories…but sense you’re not the ones doling out the money, just the ones trying to make everybody else in the world aware of the obvious. All sarcasms aside, truly, ‘Thank you’ for your stoic efforts on behalf of the earth.
You’ll need to rouse the awareness of hundreds of millions in order to pull it off; of course you know that though. I did read a site that said World War Two rallied in those numbers to get rid of Hitler. Willingness to sacrifice on a highly personal level was the deciding factor. Can it be done again? It could be daunting. I say that because of what I read on a site I visited where a conversation about the plastic swirl was going on. One writer said that they had seen a Bible passage that said, “God will bring to ruin those ruining the earth.” I’ve read that verse on other sites as well. Apparently the Bible people who come around had read that verse to them and they were wondering what the other person thought about that as being the outcome for what was happening to the earth.
Anyway, the person who answered said something about that being very pessimistic and that they preferred to do what they could to saving the earth ‘one plastic bag at a time’. Sorry to say, I felt as though I’d been caught up in a Disney cartoon when I read that answer! But that’s about the level of commitment millions of people are honestly thinking it will take. Where I live cloth bags to carry your groceries in are flying off the shelves. Have you ever tried to seriously use those suckers? I’m using them but I’m certainly not going to say I’m happy about it.
Now what about putting a dot in that equation? Once your research is done what about getting in front of the world and telling them what it’s really going to take? That it’s going to take more then a ‘one plastic bag at a time’ mind set to solve the plastic problems. When they ask you to clarify you might grab the top of the podium, lean forward and say, “fifty thousand plastic ‘house’ at a time could be very helpful.” That means no more: plastic siding, plastic fences, plastic trash cans, plastic ornamental planters, plastic lawn mowers, plastic light fixtures, plastic toys, plastic hangers, plastic toothbrushes, plastic…”
That’s what I think it will take to solve the planet’s plastic problem. I’m hopeful that your research will add to my Google/Roach findings.
Thank you,
Sammie