The Weather Channel’s “AMHQ with Sam Champion” host Sam Champion interviews Captain Moore via satellite phone regarding the “Plastic Island” the size of Texas found in Eastern Pacific. The garbage patch made up of plastic, netting and discarded waste. So the plastic island is serious.
Among the points discussed, the “Plastic Island” has grown to the size of Texas, was discovered by Captain Charles Moore, located in the Pacific 900 miles west of the California coast, it’large enough to be hazardous to navigation and to attract debris to grow.
The Great Pacific garbage patch, also described as the Pacific trash vortex, is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean discovered between 1985 and 1988. It is located roughly between 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N.[1] The collection of plastic, floating trash halfway between Hawaii and California[2] extends over an indeterminate area of widely varying range depending on the degree of plasticconcentration used to define the affected area.
The patch is characterized by exceptionally high relative pelagic concentrations of plastic, chemical sludge, and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre.[3] Its low density (4 particles per cubic meter) prevents detection by satellite imagery, or even by casual boaters or divers in the area. It consists primarily of an increase in suspended, often microscopic, particles in the upper water column.
The great Pacific garbage patch was described in a 1988 paper published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States. The description was based on results obtained by several Alaska-based researchers in 1988 that measured neustonic plastic in the North Pacific Ocean.[4] Researchers found relatively high concentrations of marine debris accumulating in regions governed by ocean currents. Extrapolating from findings in the Sea of Japan, the researchers hypothesized that similar conditions would occur in other parts of the Pacific where prevailing currents were favorable to the creation of relatively stable waters. They specifically indicated the North Pacific Gyre.[5]
According to ABC News:
The giant accumulation of plastic called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch contains at least 79,000 tons discarded plastic, covering an area of about 617,800 square miles (1.6 million square kilometers), according to a study published Thursday in Scientific Reports.
To see more from the interview with Sam Champion click HERE
