Massive North Atlantic Garbage Patch Mapped

[n2doc]

By Jess McNally August 19, 2010


Average plastic concentration and range of the North Atlantic garbage patch.

Millions of pieces of plastic — most smaller than half an inch — float throughout the oceans. They are invisible to satellites, and except on very calm days you won’t even see them from the deck of a sailboat. The only way to know how much junk is out there is to tow a fine net through the water.

Scientists have gathered data from 22 years of surface net tows to map the North Atlantic garbage patch and its change over time, creating the most accurate picture yet of any pelagic plastic patch on earth.

The data were gathered by thousands of undergraduates aboard the Sea Education Association (SEA) sailing semester, who hand-picked, counted and measured more than 64,000 pieces of plastic from 6,000 net tows between 1986 to 2008.

“The highest concentrations that we observe in the North Atlantic garbage patch are comparable to that of the North Pacific, but we don’t have enough data about the size of the North Pacific one to say whether they are comparable in size,” said oceanographer Kara Law of SEA, lead author of the study published August 19 in Science.



Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/08/atlantic-plastic/

[hatrack]

1. Well, at least we can hope that acidifying seawater will accelerate plastic breakdown . . .

But that would probably be too much to hope for, wouldn't it?

:eyes:

[n2doc]

2. That would just release more CO2!

Things never work for the best...

[phantom power]

3. well. as long as we know where it is.

:puke: