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A garbage patch is a gyre of marine debris particles caused by the effects of ocean currents and increasing plastic pollution by human populations. These human-caused collections of plastic and other debris are responsible for ecosystem and environmental problems that affect marine life, contaminate oceans with toxic chemicals, and contribute ...
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 11 December 2024. Large floating field of debris in the North Atlantic Ocean The North Atlantic Gyre is one of five major ocean gyres. The North Atlantic garbage patch is a garbage patch of man-made marine debris found floating within the North Atlantic Gyre, originally documented in 1972. A 22-year ...
At the ocean surface, plastic debris is concentrated within circular structures of large areal extent, called ocean gyres. Ocean gyres form within all oceans, due to alternating patterns of zonal winds that drive equatorward interior transport in the subtropics, and poleward interior transport in subpolar oceans.
Over 700 marine species, including half of the world’s cetaceans (such as whales and dolphins), all of its sea turtles, and a third of its seabirds, are known to ingest plastic.
A garbage patch is a gyre of marine debris particles caused by the effects of ocean currents and increasing plastic pollution by human populations. These human-caused collections of plastic and other debris are responsible for ecosystem and environmental problems that affect marine life, contaminate oceans with toxic chemicals, and contribute ...
The most eye-catching evidence of the ocean plastic problem are the garbage patches that accumulate in gyre regions. A gyre is a circular ocean current formed by the Earth's wind patterns and the forces created by the rotation of the planet. [33] There are five main ocean gyres: the North and South Pacific Subtropical Gyres, the North and South ...
The gyre contains approximately six pounds of plastic for every pound of plankton. [9] A similar patch of floating plastic debris is found in the Atlantic Ocean, called the North Atlantic garbage patch. [10] [11] This growing patch contributes to other environmental damage to marine ecosystems and species.
Plastic pollution on land poses a threat to the plants and animals – including humans who are based on the land. [87] Estimates of the amount of plastic concentration on land are between four and twenty three times that of the ocean. The amount of plastic poised on the land is greater and more concentrated than that in the water. [88]