THE GREAT PACIFIC PLASTIC PATCH
A Good Reason to Say NO to Plastic
1997 - The Discovery of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by Captain Charles Moore
Blog of Captain Moore and Crew's 2009 journey into the "Soup."
2009 the University of California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography three-week mission aboard the research vessel New Horizon, heading for the debris field to study it.
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Predicted in 1988, the zone was discovered on August 3, 1997 by Captain Charles Moore and the crew of Alguita, 800 miles north of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, roughly between 135° to 155°W and 35° to 42°N and estimated (at that time to) be twice the size of Texas.
In June 2008 Discovery Magazine published an article wherein Moore estimates that the patch could be 1½ time the size of the USA, that is right ONE AND A HALF TIMES! The World's Largest Dump
The patch is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of suspended plastic and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre. Despite its size and density, the patch is not visible from satellite photography.
Read the 2007 CDNN article about Moore and the discovery. The facts in this article ought to scare the daylight out of all of us. A Must Read!
"Researchers believe this enormous trash zone accumulated over many years from trash being dumped off boats and ocean-going ships, and from trash accumulated on beaches, where it eventually washed in the Pacific Ocean and into the huge zone." From a CNN August 9, 2009 article
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Links on this page:
CNN - Scientist Study 'garbage patch'
WIKIPEDIA - Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Blog of Captain Moore and Crew's 2009 journey