Transcript The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Great Pacific
Garbage Patch
Belen
What is it?
● The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a large system of marine debris
located in the Pacific Ocean. Out of the many marine trash vortexes that
exist, this is the biggest.
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Marine debris is litter that ends up in oceans, seas, and other large bodies
of water.
● The garbage patch is estimated to have a size between 700000 and
1500000 square kilometres
1500000 square kilometres is twice
the size of the state of Texas!
Belen
Location
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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch spans waters from the West Coast of North
America to Japan.
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It is located roughly between 135°W to 155°W and 35°N and 42°N.
All of it is bounded by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. This is a system of circular
ocean currents formed by the Earth’s wind patterns and the forces created by the
rotation of the planet. Moreover, it is created by the interaction of the California,
North Equatorial, Kuroshiro, and North Pacific currents, which all move in a
clockwise direction around an area of 20 million square kilometers (7.7 million
square miles).
Belen
Characteristics
● The patch is characterized by its high relative concentrations of pelagic
plastics, chemical sludge and other debris that have been trapped by the
currents of the North Pacific Gyre.
● The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not visible from satellite photography
despite its enormous size and density (4 particles per cubic meter).
● The amount of debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch accumulates
because much of it is not biodegradable. This means that many plastics do
not wear down but rather simply break into tinier and tinier pieces.
Belen
What is the main problem?
● The Great Pacific Garbage Patch presents numerous hazards to marine
life, fishing and tourism, as explained later on. It is a massive
environmental threatener.
● Since the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is so far from any country’s
coastline, nations refuse to take responsibility or to provide the founding to
clean it up.
● Charles Moore, the discoverer of the patch in 1997, once said
that cleaning the patch would “bankrupt any country” that tried
it.
Konstantin
Formation
● It is thought that the Great Pacific
Ocean garbage patch was formed
by the gathering of hundreds of
tons of marine pollution by
oceanic currents.
● Most of this pollution enters the
sea via streams and rivers in
which humans dispose of their
waste. It is estimated that at least
80% of the garbage comes from
these sources.
Did you know?:
About 10% of all the plastics
produced are dumped into the
ocean.
Types of marine debris
-plastics (make up 60-80% of all marine debris)
-styrofoam
-glass
-rubber
-derelict fishing gear
-derelict vessels
Andrea
Chemical impacts
Andrea
-Plastics have the potential to absorb chemicals and serve as global transport
mechanisms of these harmful chemicals.
-The chemicals are release from the plastics when they are broke down
through uv radiation, mechanical forces and weathering.
-chemicals being released include POPs (persistent organic pollutants) such
as: PCB ( poly chlorinated biphenyls) and pesticides
Physical habitat impacts
Andrea
The accumulation of the garbage into large floating areas, at beaches and
beneath the waters surface can lead to:
- decrease in light levels below the surface of the garbage patch
- depletion of oxygen levels in the surrounding waters
- degradation of habits due to smothering, abrasion and
fragmentation of sensitive habitats
Global degradation of coral reefs has become a pending
issue that can in turn cause issues within other species
Due to the fact that they no longer have sustainable habitat
Effects on wildlife
●
Gal and Aidan
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has a direct effect on all types of wildlife;in the
ocean, the land, or the sky. It is important to mention that the following slides show
only 3 examples out of about 200 species that have been endangered or hurt by this
phenomenon.
Effects on wildlife
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Gal and Aidan
The Laysan Albatross is a large seabird, which ranges widely from the Southern Ocean to the
Northern Pacific.
They commonly fly over the Pacific Garbage Patch and can easily mistake garbage for food
(since they primarily feed on squids)
The average lifespan of these birds is about 50 years. In a study made by the US Fish and
Wildlife Service, it was found that out of 500,000 chicks born yearly in Midway Atoll, about
200,000 dies from dehydration and starvation, as a result of eating too much garbage
Things like toothbrushes, combs, cigarettes and even toy soldiers were found inside the
corpses
Effects on wildlife
Gal and Aidan
● The Loggerhead sea turtle is a highly migratory species, and their range spans
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through most of the world’s oceans (except of the more frigid areas near the
poles).Consequently, their migration may take them to the Garbage Patch
This endangers them since they often mistake soft plastic (e.g. plastic bags or
balloons) for their prey (which usually consists of different types of mollusks) or can
get entangled in old fishing gear
Ingestion of plastic can lead to blockages in the gut, ulceration, internal perforation
and even death
Effects on wildlife
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Gal and Aidan
The Hawaiian Monk Seal is the only seal that prefer tropical climate.It lives along the
NorthWesetern Hawaiian Islands and is considred the most primitive seal.
It is an endangered species, since it has been heavily hunted since the 19th century.
Nowadays, one of the biggest dangers is the possible entanglement in fishing gear and
other debris that accumulate along the beaches, including in areas that serve as pup
nurseries, which severely aggravates their danger of extinction.
Entanglement can lead to suffocation, starvation, drowning or deeper wounds from the
movement of the animal. It is a major cause of death to this critically endangered species.
Effects on wildlife
Gal and Aidan
● Algae and plankton can also be affected by the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch. The microplastics that make up the garbage patch can block
sunlight from reaching the algae and plankton.
● Plankton and algae need sunlight to produce their own nutrients and
without the sunlight being able to reach them they cannot survive.
● This is a major issue because algae and plankton are fed on by many sea
creatures such as fish and turtles, and if there is less plankton and algae
food for these animals becomes more and more scarce causing the food
webs of marine life to change drastically and put the balance completely
off.
Konstantin
What can we do?
● Scientists do not believe that it is entirely possible to completely
clean the ocean of all this waste: attempting to clean up the patch
could potentially bankrupt a country.
● The only viable solution is preventing the growth of the patch by
keeping all the plastics on land.
● The use of alternative plastics is also a viable solution: “corn
plastic” looks like a normal petroleum based plastic, but it is
biodegradable and can degrade in mere months.
Petroleum based
plastics can take
centuries to undergo
degradation
This means that the
first plastic products
produced are still
around!
Konstantin
● Recycling and reusing plastic products
can also greatly decrease the amount of
plastics which get to the sea.
● Some manufacturing processes use
recycled plastics and reuse it as raw
materials.
● Organisations such as Algalita have tried
to raise awareness to prevent people
from disposing of plastics without a
second thought.
Konstantin
What if we don’t do anything?
● It is impossible to calculate the
exact amount of plastic floating
around the ocean.
● A 1999 investigation by Charles
Moore found that the plastic
density at the ocean had an
average of 0.002g per square
metre just at the surface
● 9 years later, this number had
doubled
● The density of plastic already far
outweighs even the density of
plankton with a ratio of 46 to one.
● It is believed that at the current
rate of pollution, the density of
plastic could double again in just
the next decade.
Plastics from the 1940’s
have been found
Konstantin
● This pollution doesn’t just affect the wildlife, it can also affect us.
o Since any fish may ingest plastics and other chemicals due to their
high concentration in the pacific ocean, this also means that any
human may also ingest these chemicals indirectly by eating any fish
whose origin is the Pacific Ocean
The weight of every person on Earth
is produced in the form of plastic
every two years.
Only 9% of this is recycled
What is being done?
Gal and Aidan
● Many different institutes and foundations are trying to raise awareness of
the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Among these is the Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History along with National Geographic and
Time Magazine.
● All of these companies have been attempting to stop the littering that is
taking place so that the animals that inhabit this part of the Pacific Ocean
do not go extinct.
Belen
Sources
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http://marinedebris.info/book/export/html/33
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch
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http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/great-pacificgarbage-patch/?ar_a=1
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/great-pacificgarbage-patch.htm
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http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/great-pacificgarbage-patch/?ar_a=1
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