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Twice the size of Texas, the mass of about 79,000 metric tons of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii is growing at an exponential pace, according to researchers ...
The degradation of plastics in the ocean also leads to a rise in the level of toxics in the area. [21] The garbage patch was confirmed in mid-2017, and has been compared to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch's state in 2007, making the former ten years younger. The South Pacific garbage patch is not visible on satellites, and is not a landmass.
Since as much as 70% of the trash is estimated to be on the ocean floor, and microplastics are only millimeters wide, sealife at nearly every level of the food chain is affected. [ 177 ] [ 178 ] [ 179 ] Animals who feed off of the bottom of the ocean risk sweeping microplastics into their systems while gathering food. [ 180 ]
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (also Pacific trash vortex and North Pacific Garbage Patch [1]) is a garbage patch, a gyre of marine debris particles, in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is located roughly from 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N . [ 2 ]
A recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports on Thursday, March 22, found that the GPGP has grown to more than 600,000 square miles, which is twice the size of Texas or three times ...
Merchants vessels alone dump 5.5 million containers of trash every day. Coastal sewage systems also contribute to the problem. It takes about 500 years for plastic to photo-degrade completely in ...
The degradation of plastics in the ocean also leads to a rise in the level of toxics in the area. [2] The garbage patch was confirmed in mid-2017, and has been compared to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch's state in 2007, making the former ten years younger. The South Pacific garbage patch is not visible on satellites, and is not a landmass.
Debris on beach near Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Debris collected from beaches on Tern Island in the French Frigate Shoals over one month. Researchers classify debris as either land- or ocean-based; in 1991, the United Nations Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution estimated that up to 80% of the pollution was land-based, [5] with the remaining 20% originating from ...