Scientists Study Huge Plastic Patch in Pacific
By
Steve Gorman Steve Gorman – Tue Aug 4,
8:42 am ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marine scientists from
A research vessel
carrying a team of about 30 researchers, technicians and crew members embarked
on Sunday on a three-week voyage from the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, based at the
The expedition will study how much debris -- mostly tiny
plastic fragments -- is collecting in an expanse of sea known as the North Pacific Ocean Gyre, how that material is
distributed and how it affects marine life.
The debris ends up concentrated by circular, clockwise ocean currents within an oblong-shaped "convergence zone" hundreds of miles (km)
across from end to end near the Hawaiian
Islands, about midway between Japan and the West Coast of the United States.
The focus of the study will be on plankton, other
microorganisms, small fish and birds.
"The concern is what kind of impact those plastic bits
are having on the small critters on the low end of the ocean food chain," Bob Knox, deputy
director of research at Scripps, said on Monday after the ship had spent its
first full day at sea.
The 170-foot vessel New Horizon is equipped with a
laboratory for on-board research, but scientists also will bring back samples
for further study.
Little is known about the exact size and scope of the vast
debris field discovered some years ago by fishermen and others in the North
Pacific that is widely referred to as the "Great Pacific Garbage
Patch."
Large items readily visible from the deck of a boat are few
and far between. Most of the debris consists of small plastic particles
suspended at or just below the water surface, making it impossible to detect by
aircraft or satellite images.
The debris zone shifts by as much as a thousand miles north
and south on a seasonal basis, and drifts even farther south during periods of
warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures known as El
Nino, according to information from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Besides the potential harm to sea life caused by ingesting
bits of plastic, the expedition team will look at whether the particles could
carry other pollutants, such as pesticides, far out to sea, and whether tiny
organisms attached to the debris could be transported to distant regions and
thus become invasive species.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Will Dunham)