Posted on 05/08/2012 7:06:17 PM PDT by Brandonmark
The vast swirl of plastic waste floating in the North Pacific has grown 100-fold over the last 40 years, according to a research paper published Wednesday.
And scientists warned the killer soup of microplastic -- particles smaller than five millimetres (one inch) -- threatened to alter the open ocean's natural environment.
In the period 1972 to 1987, no microplastic was found in the majority of samples taken for testing, said the paper in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
Today, scientists estimate the swirling mass of waste known as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is roughly the size of Texas.
"The abundance of small human-produced plastic particles in the NPSG has increased by 100 times over the last four decades," said a statement on the findings of researchers from the University of California.
The United Nations Environment Programme says around 13,000 pieces of plastic litter are found in every square kilometre of sea, but the problem is worst in the North Pacific.
The plastic particles are being vacuumed up by marine life and birds, and the mix is heavy with toxic chemicals.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
About as much as MSNBC
Excellent link, thank you.
The studies have shown is that if you look at the actual area of the plastic itself, rather than the entire North Pacific subtropical gyre, the hypothetically “cohesive” plastic patch is actually less than 1 percent of the geographic size of Texas.
got it...... ;)
I have a tough time takining any technical article seriously which can't do a simple conversion properly.
Five millimeters is a fifth of an inch.
So there's photos of this gigantic thing, right?
Right?
:: crickets ::
You’d think there would be a way to harvest all this readily usable hydrocarbon mass.
[ This is why whenever I see a sea turtle, I tie a plastic bag to one of its arms, so they can go help pick this up. ]
OMG, I spit up my coffee....
[ You’d think there would be a way to harvest all this readily usable hydrocarbon mass. ]
Dump a bunch of powdered rust over it and cause an algae bloom boom over it and the algae will eat it and sink it...
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