Maya Ellison
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex or North Pacific Garbage Patch, is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is located between California and Hawaii. The patch is not a solid mass of plastic but rather a widely dispersed area consisting primarily of fingernail-sized or smaller, often microscopic, particles in the upper water column known as microplastics. The patch covers 1.6 million square kilometres and contains at least 79,000 tons of plastic, with estimates reaching up to 129,000 tons. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a highly polluted area that poses significant risks to marine life, with animals migrating through or inhabiting this area likely consuming plastic and other debris.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name | Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), Pacific Trash Vortex, North Pacific Garbage Patch, Eastern Garbage Patch (EGP) |
| Location | Central North Pacific Ocean, roughly 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N, halfway between Hawaii and California |
| Size | 617,800 square miles (1.6 million square kilometers), three times the size of France |
| Weight | 79,000 tons, 80,000 tons according to a 2018 estimate, 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic |
| Concentration | 60 kg per square kilometer, peaks at several hundred kg per square kilometer |
| Composition | Microplastics, fishing nets, hard plastic waste, coastal barnacles, sponges, anemones, and other marine life |
| Impact | Marine life migrating through or inhabiting the area is likely consuming plastic. Sea turtles, Laysan albatross chicks, and other animals are ingesting Persistent Bio-accumulative Toxic Persistent Bio-accumulative Toxic (PBT) chemicals attached to the plastic. |
| Cleanup Efforts | The Ocean Cleanup is currently cleaning up the GPGP with System 03. |
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What You'll Learn
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not a solid mass
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is a massive floating island of plastic located between California and Hawaii. The GPGP is the largest accumulation of plastic in the open ocean, with 180 times more plastic than marine life.
Despite its name and common perception, the GPGP is not a solid mass or a floating island of trash. The patch is a widely dispersed area of microplastics, with lots of open water in between. These "fingernail-sized or smaller" particles are often microscopic and suspended in the upper water column. The low density of the patch, with only 4 particles per cubic meter, prevents detection by satellite imagery or casual boaters and divers in the area.
The size and shape of the GPGP are constantly changing due to seasonal and interannual variabilities of winds and currents. The average concentration of plastic in the patch is around 60 kg per square kilometer, with peaks of several hundred kg per square kilometer. The plastic in the patch is influenced by factors such as wind speed, sea state, and buoyancy, which determine its vertical mixing.
The GPGP is a well-publicized but little-understood phenomenon. It is an area where high concentrations of rubbish get sucked into the center of an inverted whirlpool or ocean gyre. The plastic in the patch has been measured since the 1970s, and calculations show that the microplastic mass concentration is increasing exponentially.
The plastic in the GPGP has severe ecological consequences. Animals migrating through or inhabiting this area are likely to consume plastic, leading to the ingestion of toxic chemicals attached to the debris. Additionally, fishing nets, which account for 46% of the mass in the GPGP, pose a danger to marine life, entangling and trapping them.
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Plastic pollution at sea is scattered
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is a massive accumulation of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean, located between California and Hawaii. It is important to note that, contrary to popular belief, plastic pollution at sea is scattered and does not form solid islands of trash. The GPGP is a widely dispersed area of microplastics, with open water in between, making it difficult to detect through satellite imagery or by casual boaters and divers.
The Ocean Cleanup project has been working to address this issue by conducting expeditions to measure the vertical distribution of plastic and clean up the patch. Their research has shown that plastic pollution is densely distributed within the patch but is not a solid mass. The concentration of plastic in the GPGP can vary, with an average of around 60 kg per square kilometer and peaks of several hundred kg per square kilometer.
The size of the GPGP is constantly changing due to seasonal and interannual variations in winds and currents. It covers approximately 1.6 million square kilometers and contains an estimated 79,000 to 129,000 metric tons of plastic. The plastic in the patch originates from countries in Asia, North America, and South America, with a significant contribution from the fishing industry.
The impact of the GPGP on marine life is significant. Animals migrating through or inhabiting this area are likely to consume plastic, leading to the ingestion of toxic chemicals attached to the debris. Additionally, fishing nets, which account for a large portion of the mass in the GPGP, pose a danger to marine animals that can get entangled in them.
Efforts to address plastic pollution at sea are ongoing, with organizations like Oceana campaigning to reduce the production and use of single-use plastics and promote plastic-free alternatives. However, the complex nature of microplastics and the vast scale of the pollution present significant challenges to cleanup operations.
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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest accumulation of plastic in the ocean
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the largest accumulation of plastic in the ocean. It is located in the North Pacific Ocean, between California and Hawaii. The GPGP is not a solid island of trash but a collection of marine debris, mostly plastic, that has accumulated due to the movement of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a system of circulating ocean currents. The patch is constantly changing shape and location, influenced by seasonal and interannual variabilities of winds and currents.
The GPGP is not a single, continuous patch but consists of two mobile areas of relatively high concentrations of rapidly accumulating plastic trash, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches. These patches are connected by a thin, 6,000-mile-long current called the Subtropical Convergence Zone, which also accumulates significant amounts of trash. The Eastern Garbage Patch, located between Hawaii and California, is estimated to be twice the size of Texas. The Western Garbage Patch forms east of Japan and west of Hawaii.
The amount of debris in the GPGP continues to grow because much of it is not biodegradable. Plastics do not wear down but break into smaller pieces, known as microplastics, which can be ingested by marine life. A 2014 study estimated that nearly 270,000 tons of plastic are floating in the world's oceans, with the GPGP containing at least 79,000 tons of plastic, covering an area of about 1.6 million square kilometers. Another study by The Ocean Cleanup Foundation estimated the GPGP contains around 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic weighing 80,000 tons, sixteen times more than previously estimated.
The GPGP has a detrimental impact on marine life. Animals migrating through or inhabiting this area are likely consuming plastic from the patch. For example, sea turtles caught in fisheries within and around the patch can have up to 74% of their diets composed of ocean plastics. Laysan albatross chicks from Kure Atoll and Oahu Island have around 45% of their wet mass composed of plastics from the GPGP. As 84% of this plastic contains Persistent Bio-accumulative Toxic (PBT) chemicals, the ingestion of this debris is harmful to the health of these animals. Additionally, fishing nets, which account for 46% of the mass in the GPGP, pose a danger to animals that cannot extract themselves if they swim or collide into them.
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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is growing
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is located roughly from 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N, halfway between Hawaii and California. The GPGP is not a solid island of trash but a widely dispersed area consisting primarily of "fingernail-sized or smaller", often microscopic, particles in the upper water column known as microplastics.
The patch is believed to have increased "10-fold each decade" since 1945. A 2014 study estimated that nearly 270,000 tons of plastic is floating in the world's oceans, with the GPGP containing at least 79,000 tons of plastic, according to a 2018 study. Another estimate puts the figure at 80,000 tons, while yet another calculates the average concentration of the GPGP to be around 60 kg per square kilometer, peaking at several hundred kg per square kilometer.
The plastic in the patch originates from the Pacific Rim, including countries in Asia, North America, and South America. The composition of the plastic waste includes unidentifiable fragments, fishing and aquaculture gear, fish boxes, oyster spacers, eel traps, and other plastic items associated with food, drinks, and household items. Fishing nets account for 46% of the mass in the GPGP and are dangerous to marine life.
The GPGP's location and shape are constantly changing due to seasonal and interannual variabilities of winds and currents. The Ocean Cleanup is currently working to clean up the patch, but it is a complex problem due to the minuscule size of microplastics, with current technologies potentially causing harm to marine life.
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Marine life is colonising the plastic
The plastic in the patch has been measured since the 1970s, and calculations show that microplastic mass concentration is increasing exponentially. The average concentration of plastic in the patch is 60 kg per square kilometre and peaks at several hundred kg per square kilometre. Research by The Ocean Cleanup Foundation estimated that the patch contains around 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic weighing 80,000 tons, sixteen times more than previously estimated.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch poses a severe threat to marine life. Sea turtles, for example, can mistake plastic for food, and it has been found that up to 74% of their diets can be composed of ocean plastics. Laysan albatross chicks from Kure Atoll and Oahu Island have around 45% of their wet mass composed of plastics from the patch. As 84% of this plastic contains at least one Persistent Bio-accumulative Toxic Persistent Bio-accumulative Toxic (PBT) chemical, the ingestion of plastic by marine life leads to the ingestion of toxic chemicals.
Plastic pollution also causes entanglement, laceration, infections, and internal injuries in marine animals. Fishing nets, which account for 46% of the mass in the patch, are particularly dangerous for animals that collide with them and cannot extract themselves. Plastic pollution in the ocean has become a global crisis, with billions of pounds of plastic in convergences that make up about 40% of the world's ocean surfaces. At current rates, plastic is expected to outweigh all the fish in the sea by 2050.
Microplastics have become part of the food chain and have been found in drinking water, salt, beer, and in the soil where vegetables are grown. They can cause intestinal injury and death in marine animals and transfer plastic up the food chain to bigger fish, marine mammals, and human seafood eaters. A recent study found that a quarter of fish at markets in California contained plastic in their guts, mostly in the form of plastic microfibers.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is a giant accumulation of plastic located between California and Hawaii. However, it is not a solid mass of plastic but rather a widely dispersed area of microplastics.
The GPGP is estimated to cover 1.6 million square kilometres (620,000 square miles) and contain 45,000–129,000 metric tons of plastic, though some estimates put this figure at 80,000 tons or even higher. It is currently three times the size of France and continues to grow rapidly.
The GPGP has severe ecological consequences. It has been found that animals migrating through or inhabiting the area are likely consuming plastic in the patch. For example, Laysan albatross chicks from Kure Atoll and Oahu Island have around 45% of their wet mass composed of plastics from the GPGP. Since 84% of this plastic contains Persistent Bio-accumulative Toxic Persistent Bio-accumulative Toxic (PBT) chemicals, animals are ingesting these toxins.
The Ocean Cleanup is currently working on cleaning up the GPGP with System 03. Their floating barrier will be tested for extreme weather at sea to prepare for its deployment in the GPGP. Other organisations such as Oceana are campaigning to stop plastic pollution at the source by advocating for policies that reduce the production and use of unnecessary single-use plastics.
