The Pacific Garbage Patch

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 20:35:58 +0000

Have you heard in the news that there is a large floating body of trash in the Pacific Ocean twice the size of Texas? Some claims even put the size at twice the US. I must admit, I imagined a big floating mat. Then again, I am from Texas and it's big. Thus, I was a tad skeptical. In this weekly video I wanted to explore the claims and get to the truth behind the patch. Here is what I found out, some of which I didn't fit into this short video. First, the size might actually be that big, but that's simply because they define it as an area of the ocean that has a higher than average amount of trash. Since the ocean is big, any area (like a gyre), that tends to collect trash will likely get it's entire area defined as a garbage patch. The amount of trash is large considering it's the entire ocean though. However, the tows were 90 minutes long. You can see how much trash came out of them. It's a lot, but my no means a heap. The real problem is that fish and other animals in the ocean are eating this trash. We eat those fish. We don't want that! To read more visit the article I wrote on it. http://www.untamedscience.com/garbagepatch Here are some other links to videos from Lucy Marcus, the filmmaker that went on the cruise. http://cmore.soest.hawaii.edu/cruises/super/index.htm http://www.worldenvironmentalfilms.com/Movies.html https://vimeo.com/3724896

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The Pacific Garbage Patch