We’re referring to the great patch of plastic in the North Atlantic Gyre. You might have read the stories in DISCOVER and elsewhere about the more famous Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a Texas-sized soup of tiny plastic pieces in the middle of that ocean. Circulating ocean currents create these gyres in several places around the world, and ocean-borne plastic gets trapped. The Woods Hole paper is the result of a two-decade study of the Atlantic patch that produced a surprising result: The amount in total plastic appears to have leveled off—at least according to the data.
Humans haven’t stopped putting plastic into the ocean, so what gives?
“We know that global production of plastics has increased substantially over the time period” and disposal also has increased, said Kara Lavender Law of the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Mass. “If there is more plastic trash it’s hard to believe more is not making it into the ocean. There is missing plastic out there,” she said
Full story by AP and Discover 80 Beats
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Of course there’s plastic missing! What do you expect of the Bermuda Triangle?
interesing article…;)
could it be that biodegradable plastics are making a difference?
Plastic is a petrochemical, as far as I was told in my secondary school science classes.
Petrochemicals are the end result of decomposing fossilised plankton on the sea bed. So I guess you could say all that fossilised plankton has just found it’s way back home, like Lassie did.
Though somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better about it.
And it’s still a bizarre thought that I’m typing this on a keyboard made of ancient squishy plankton.
I’m going to be up all night thinking about this now…
There’d be a Micheal Jackson joke in here somewhere, but, er, you know…
…who do we aim arbitrary plastic jokes at these days?..
We have to remember that it takes around 5 years from the US and a year from Asia for garbage to reach the gyre. By which time, the plastic will long have broken down in the ocean. Plastic breaking down and getting into the food chain certainly isn’t good, but it’s unfeasable for there to be a Pacific garbage patch (after all, Hawaii would be dead centre in the patch). Let alone the fact that many photos of the Pacific patch turned out to be off-shore photos of third-world countries lacking the same environmental protection as richer places.
I can only speak specifically for the Pacific here but, consider, does it seem likely that plastic would also survive the journey in the Atlantic either?