The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also described as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is a gyre of marine litter in the centralNorth Pacific Ocean located roughly between 135° to 155°W and 35° to 42°N.[1] The patch extends over a very wide area, with estimates ranging from an area the size of the state of Texas to one larger than the continental United States; however, the exact size is unknown.[2] This can be attributed to the fact that there is no specific standard for determining the boundary between the “normal” and “elevated” levels of pollutants and what constitutes being part of the patch. The size is determined by a higher-than normal degree of concentration of pelagic debris in the water. Recent data collected from Pacific albatross populations suggest there may be two distinct zones of concentrated debris in the Pacific.[3]
The Patch is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of pelagic plastics, chemical sludge, and other debristhat have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre.[4] Despite its size and density, the patch is not visible from satellite photography since it primarily consists of suspended particulates in the upper water column. Since plastics break down to ever smaller polymers, concentrations of submerged particles are not visible from space, nor do they appear as a continuous debris field. Instead, the patch is defined as an area in which the mass of plastic debris in the upper water column is significantly higher than average.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch
Plastic Accumulation in the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre
Kara Lavender Law,1,* Skye Morét-Ferguson,1,2 Nikolai A. Maximenko,3 Giora Proskurowski,1,2Emily E. Peacock,2 Jan Hafner,3 Christopher M. Reddy2Plastic marine pollution is a significant environmental concern, yet a quantitative description of the scope of this problem in the open ocean is lacking. Here, we present a time series of plastic content at the surface of the western North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea from 1986 to 2008. More than 60% of 6136 surface plankton net tows collected buoyant plastic pieces typically millimeters in size. The highest concentration of plastic debris was observed in subtropical latitudes and associated with the observed large-scale convergence in surface currentspredicted by Ekman dynamics. Despite a rapid increase in plastic production and disposal during this time period, no trend in plastic concentration was observed in the region of highest accumulation.
1 Sea Education Association, P.O. Box 6, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
2 Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
3 International Pacific Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai’i, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: klavender@sea.edu
