How large is the plastic island in the Pacific Ocean?
3554316#2
The patch is not easily seen from the sky, because the plastic is dispersed over a large area. Researchers from The Ocean Cleanup project claimed that the patch covers 1.6 million square kilometers. The plastic concentration is estimated to be up to 100 kilograms per square kilometer in the center, going down to 10 kilograms per square kilometer in the outer parts of the patch. An estimated 80,000 metric tons of plastic inhabit the patch, totaling 1.8 trillion pieces. 92% of the mass in the patch comes from objects larger than 0.5 centimeters.
Great Pacific garbage patch
27265528#46
There is truly a staggering amount of microplastics in our world’s oceans. Though there is debate over exactly how much microplastic is in the world’s oceans a 2015 study estimated that there was between 93 and 236 thousand metric tons of microplastics in the world’s oceans. A study of the distribution of Eastern Pacific Ocean surface plastic debris helps to illustrate how the concentration of plastics in the ocean is on the rise. Though the study admits further research is needed to predict trends in ocean plastic concentration, the study, using data on surface plastic concentration (pieces of plastic km) from 1972-1985 n=60 and 2002-2012 n=457 within the same plastic accumulation zone, found the mean plastic concentration increase between the two sets of data, including a 10-fold increase of 18,160 to 189,800 pieces of plastic km. And though this study is based on data of surface plastic concentration, not specifically microplastic, additional research has found microplastics to account for 92% of plastic debris on the ocean’s surface, which adds context to the study.
Microplastics
37201518#34
A study conducted by Scripps Institution of Oceanography showed that the average plastic content in the stomachs of 141 mesopelagic fish over 27 different species was 9.2%. Their estimate for the ingestion rate of plastic debris by these fish in the North Pacific was between 12000 and 24000 tons per year. The most popular mesopelagic fish is the lantern fish. It resides in the central ocean gyres, a large system of rotating ocean currents. Since lantern fish serve as a primary food source for the fish that consumers purchase, including tuna and swordfish, the plastics they ingest become part of the food chain. The lantern fish is one of the main bait fish in the ocean, and it eats large amounts of plastic fragments, which in turn will not make them nutritious enough for other fish to consume.
Plastic pollution
37201518#25
In the Pacific Gyre, specifically 20°N-40°N latitude, large bodies with floating marine debris can be found. Models of wind patterns and ocean currents indicate that the plastic waste in the northern Pacific is particularly dense where the Subtropical Convergence Zone (STCZ), 23°N-37°N latitude, meets a southwest-northeast line, found north of the Hawaiian archipelago.
Plastic pollution
43088760#4
In 2013 she begun her monumental artistic cycle named Wasteland, a tans medial project that faces the problem of the huge plastic islands spread in the oceans, commonly known as Pacific Trash Vortex. The idea is to include this “territory” into a federal state. “Since the Garbage Patch keeps on being ignored by public opinion mainly because it is not visible, I came up with the idea of creating a State out of these islands completely formed by plastic wastes whose surface amounts to around sixteen millions square kilometers” states the artist.
Maria Cristina Finucci
36768507#3
Although plastic pollution remains under the umbrella of “marine debris”, it is one of the largest concerns affecting marine life and the most ubiquitous source of pollution across the oceans. In a 2014 study, the “first study that compares all sizes of floating plastic in the world's oceans from the largest items to small microplastics,” researchers estimated that a minimum of 5.25 trillion plastic particles exist in the ocean. Historically, the U.S. military used the ocean as a dumping ground for munitions from 1919 to 1970, and the U.S. army dumped 16,000 mustard gas bombs in deep water (south of Pearl Harbor after World War II.) Presently, floating plastic garbage from disposable consumer products accumulate in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, from debris eventually find its way onto the reefs and beaches in Hawaii. Kamilo Beach, located at the southern tip of the Big Island, has been devastated by plastic pollution from the patch and was named “The Dirtiest Beach in the World” by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). Unique to this site is the abundance of both microplastic and meso-plastic, where geologists found plastic-infused rocks called"plastiglomerates”; they expect this new rock become a part of the fossil record, indicating the intensity of human influence on the environment. Plastiglomerates are formed when “melted plastic binds together sand, shells, pebbles, basalt, coral and wood, or seeps into the cavities of larger rocks to form a rock-plastic hybrid”; although they were not discovered until 2012 by Captain Charles Moore from Algalita Marine Research Institute, plastiglomerates occur in other parts of the world, in part by fire-using activities such as bonfires.
Environmental issues in Hawaii
54893319#8
One study shows estimates of 5.25 trillion individual pieces of microplastcs, weighing nearly 267,000 tons are currently floating in our oceans. It has been estimated that since being invented, 8.3 billion tons of plastics has been produced, with 80% (6.64 billion tons) being dumped in landfills, on land, and in the oceans. Plastic particles don't biodegrade or break down and instead just fragment into smaller pieces. If current trends in the amount of plastics flowing into our oceans continues, combined with overfishing, will result in plastics outweighing fish in the oceans by 2050.
South Pacific garbage patch
801122#7
Scientists are currently studying the floating mass of plastic trash in the Pacific Ocean. This affected area is twice the size of Texas. The scientists study the effect of the trash on the marine life, and how to solve the rising problem. Another current study is the process of changing waste into energy. As both become a rising problem the methane in landfills has the potential to be used to generate small amounts of electricity.
Garbology
2127046#39
Plastic debris tends to accumulate at the centre of ocean gyres. The North Pacific Gyre, for example, has collected the so-called "Great Pacific Garbage Patch", which is now estimated to be one to twenty times the size of Texas (approximately from 700,000 to 15,000,000 square kilometers). There could be as much plastic as fish in the sea. It has a very high level of plastic particulate suspended in the upper water column. In samples taken in 1999, the mass of plastic exceeded that of zooplankton (the dominant animal life in the area) by a factor of six.
Marine pollution
37201518#18
The majority of the litter near and in the ocean is made up of plastics and is a persistent pervasive source of marine pollution. According to Dr. Marcus Eriksen of The 5 Gyres Institute, there are 5.25 trillion particles of plastic pollution that weigh as much as 270,000 tons (2016). This plastic is taken by the ocean currents and accumulates in large vortexes known as ocean gyres. The majority of the gyres become pollution dumps filled with plastic.
Plastic pollution
3554316#20
In March 2018, The Ocean Cleanup published a paper summarizing their findings from the Mega- (2015) and Aerial Expedition (2016). In 2015, the organization crossed the Great Pacific garbage patch with 30 vessels, to make observations and take samples with 652 survey nets. They collected a total of 1.2 million pieces, which they counted and categorized into their respective size classes. In order to also account for the larger, but more rare larger debris, they also overflew the patch in 2016 with a C-130 Hercules aircraft, equipped with LiDAR sensors. The findings from the two expeditions, found that the patch covers 1.6 million square kilometers with a concentration of 10–100 kg per square kilometer. They estimate an 80,000 metric tons in the patch, with 1.8 trillion plastic pieces, out of which 92% of the mass is to be found in objects larger than 0.5 centimeters.
Great Pacific garbage patch