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Garbage Patch Update...
Garbage patches are large areas of the ocean where litter, fishing gear, and other debris - known as marine debris - collects. They are formed by rotating ocean currents called “gyres.” One can think of them as big whirlpools that pull objects in.
The gyres pull debris into one location, often the gyre’s center, forming “patches.” Debris ranges in size, from large abandoned fishing nets to tiny microplastics, which are plastic pieces smaller than 5mm in size (NOAA, 2021).
There are five gyres in the ocean. One in the Indian Ocean, two in the Atlantic Ocean, and two in the Pacific Ocean. Garbage patches of varying sizes are located in each gyre. The most famous of these patches is often called the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” located in the North Pacific Gyre.
It may not be possible to entirely get rid of garbage patches. Some of the material will take a very long time to break down in the environment, while other materials, like plastics, may never fully degrade and disperse without harming marine ecosystems.
Large debris, like fishing nets, can be removed by people, but debris in the garbage patches is also mostly made up (by count) of plastic pieces smaller than 5mm in size. The debris is also continuously mixed by wind and wave action and is spread from the surface all the way to the ocean floor.
Finding cost effective technologies that can take on these challenges is extremely challenging. The NOAA Marine Debris Program focuses on marine debris prevention and removal from shorelines and coastal areas where debris is easier to pick up. Prevention is key to solving the marine debris problem over time. By acting to prevent marine debris, we can stop this problem from growing (NOAA, 2021). ___ https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/publications-files/gp… www.MarineDebris.noaa.gov https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/what-we-know-about-garbage-patches https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/discover-marine-debris https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/our-work/education https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/resources/funding-opportunities https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4174 https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149163/mapping-marine-micropla… https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/gyre.html https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9449485 https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/currentdata.html https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/CYGNSS_L3_MICROPLASTIC_V1.0 https://www.nasa.gov/feature/esnt2021/scientists-use-nasa-satellite-dat… https://impactunofficial.medium.com/marine-debris-finding-the-plastic-n… https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/CYGNSS_L2_V2.1 https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/articles/ocean-plastic
"Everyone’s Looking for Plastic."
The New York Times looks at Senegal's growing industry built around recycling plastic waste.
“We’re the people protecting the environment,” said 76-year-old waste picker, Pape Ndiaye. “Everything that pollutes it, we take to industries, and they transform it.”