The great Pacific Garbage Patch

TheGreat Pacific Garbage Patchis a collection ofmarinedebrisin the North PacificOcean.Marine debrisislitterthat ends up in oceans, seas, and other large bodies of water.The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific trashvortex, spans waters from the WestCoastof North America to Japan. The patch is actually comprised of the Western Garbage Patch, located near Japan, and the Eastern Garbage Patch, located between the U.S. states of Hawaii and California.These areas of spinning debris are linked together by the North Pacific SubtropicalConvergence Zone, located a few hundred kilometers north of Hawaii. This convergence zone is where warm water from the South Pacific meets up with cooler water from theArctic. The zone acts like ahighwaythat moves debris from one patch to another.The entire Great Pacific Garbage Patch is bounded by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines a gyre as a large system of swirling ocean currents. Increasingly, however, it also refers to the garbage patch / a vortex ofplasticwaste and debris broken down into small particles in the ocean. The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is formed by four currents rotating clockwise around an area of 20 million square kilometers (7.7 million square miles): the Californiacurrent, the North Equatorial current, the Kuroshio Current, and the North Pacific current.The area in the center of a gyre tends to be very calm andstable. The circular motion of the gyre draws debris into this stable center, where it becomes trapped. A plastic water bottle discarded off the coast of California, for instance, takes the California Current south toward Mexico. There, it may catch the North Equatorial Current, which crosses the vast Pacific. Near the coast of Japan, the bottle maytravelnorth on the powerful Kuroshio Current. Finally, the bottle travels westward on the North Pacific Current. The gently rolling vortexes of the Eastern and Western Garbage Patches gradually draw in the bottle.The amount of debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch accumulates because much of it is notbiodegradable. Many plastics, for instance, do not wear down; they simply break into tinier and tinier pieces.For many people, the idea of a garbage patch conjures up images of anislandof trash floating on the ocean. In reality, these patches are almost entirely made up of tiny bits of plastic, called microplastics. Microplastics cannot always be seen by the naked eye. Evensatellite imagerydoesn't show a giant patch of garbage. The microplastics of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch can simply make the water look like a cloudy soup. This soup is intermixed with larger items, such as fishing gear and shoes.Theseafloorbeneath the Great Pacific Garbage Patch may also be an underwater trash heap. Oceanographers and ecologists recently discovered that about 70 percent of marine debris actually sinks to the bottom of the ocean.While oceanographers and climatologists predicted the existence of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it was a racing boat captain by the name of Charles Moore who actually discovered the trash vortex. Moore was sailing from Hawaii to California after competing in ayachtingrace. Crossing the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, Moore and his crew noticed millions of pieces of plastic surrounding his ship.Marine Debris?No one knows how much debris makes up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is too large for scientists totrawl. In addition, not all of the trash floats on the surface. Denser debris can sink centimeters or even several meters beneath the surface, making the vortex's area nearly impossible tomeasure.About 80 percent of the debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from land-based activities in North America and Asia. The remaining 20 percent of debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from boaters,offshoreoil rigs, and largecargoships that dump or lose debris directly into the water. The majority of this debris — about 705,000 tons — is fishing nets. More unusual items, such as computer monitors and LEGOs, come from droppedshippingcontainers.While many different types of trash enter the ocean, plastics make up the majority of marine debris for two reasons. First, plastic'sdurability, low cost, andmalleabilitymean that it's being used in more and moreconsumerandindustrialproducts. Second, plastic goods do not biodegrade but instead break down into smaller pieces.In the ocean, the sun breaks down these plastics into tinier and tinier pieces, a process known asphotodegradation. Most of this debris comes from plastic bags, bottle caps, plastic water bottles, and Styrofoam cups.Marine debris can be veryharmfulto marine life in the gyre. For instance, loggerheadseaturtles often mistake plastic bags for jellies, their favorite food. Albatrosses mistake plasticresinpellets for fish eggs and feed them to chicks, which die ofstarvationor ruptured organs.Seals and other marine mammals are especially at risk. They can get entangled in abandoned plastic fishing nets, which are being discarded largely due to inclement weather and illegal fishing. Seals and other mammals often drown in these forgotten nets — aphenomenonknown as "ghost fishing."Marine debris can also disturb marine food webs in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. As microplastics and other trash collect on or near the surface of the ocean, they block sunlight from reachingplanktonandalgaebelow. Algae and plankton are the most common autotrophs, or producers, in the marinefood web. Autotrophs are organisms that can produce their own nutrients from carbon and sunlight.If algae and plankton communities are threatened, the entire food web may change. Animals that feed on algae and plankton, such as fish and turtles, will have less food. If populations of those animalsdecrease, there will be less food for apex predators such as tuna, sharks, and whales. Eventually,seafoodbecomes lessavailableand moreexpensivefor people.These dangers are compounded by the fact that plastics bothleachout andabsorbharmful pollutants. As plastics break down through photodegradation, they leach out colorants and chemicals, such as bisphenol A (BPA), that have been linked to environmental and health problems. Conversely, plastics can also absorb pollutants, such as PCBs, from the seawater. These chemicals can then enter thefood chainwhen consumed by marine life.Patching Up the PatchBecause the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is so far from any country's coastline, no nation will takeresponsibilityor provide thefundingto clean it up. Charles Moore, the man who discovered the vortex, says cleaning up the garbage patch would "bankruptany country" that tried it.Many individuals and international organizations, however, are dedicated to preventing the patch from growing.Cleaning up marine debris is not as easy as it sounds. Many microplastics are the same size as small sea animals, so nets designed to scoop up trash would catch these creatures as well. Even if we could design nets that would just catch garbage, the size of the oceans makes this job far too time-consuming to consider. The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Debris Program has estimated that it would take 67 ships one year to clean up less than one percent of the North Pacific Ocean.Many expeditions have traveled through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Charles Moore, who discovered the patch in 1997, continues to raise awareness through his own environmental organization, the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. During a 2014expedition, Moore and his team usedaerialdrones, toassessfrom above theextentof the trash below. The drones determined that there is 100 times more plastic by weight than previously measured. The team also discovered more permanent plastic features, or islands, some over 15 meters (50 feet) in length.All the floating plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch inspired National GeographicEmergingExplorerDavid de Rothschild and his team at Adventure Ecology to create a largecatamaranmade of plastic bottles: thePlastiki. The sturdiness of the Plastiki displayed the strength and durability of plastics, the creative ways that they can be repurposed, and the threat they pose to theenvironmentwhen they don'tdecompose. In 2010, the crew successfully navigated the Plastiki from San Francisco, California, to Sydney, Australia.Scientists and explorers agree that limiting or eliminating our use of disposable plastics and increasing our use of biodegradable resources will be the best way to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Organizations such as the Plastic Pollution Coalition and the Plastic Oceans Foundation are using social media and direct action campaigns to support individuals, manufacturers, and businesses in theirtransitionfromtoxic, disposable plastics to biodegradable or reusable materials. Great Pacific Garbage Patch North Pacific Ocean litter that ends up in oceans Marine debris North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone where warm water from the South Pacific meets up with cooler water from the Arctic microplastics tiny particles of broken down plastics photodegradation sunlight breaking down plastic into small pieces What are three things you can do to help prevent the garbage patch from spreading? Why is it so hard to clean up debris in the ocean? Who is responsible for the formation of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? How much of the debris sinks to the ocean floor? What role does the center of the gyre play in the formation of the patch? Who discovered the patch? When was it discovered? What are three impacts of the gargage patch? Where does the garbage come from? Include amounts in your answer.