|
Sail-World.com : Researchers find widespread floating plastic debris in North Atlantic
Researchers find widespread floating plastic debris in North Atlantic
|
|
|
'Forty-seven pieces of plastic debris were found in the stomach of this triggerfish, captured in a surface plankton net tow while traveling with a large plastic bucket in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre. (Photo by David M. Lawrence, SEA)'
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) ©
|
Despite growing awareness of the problem of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, little solid scientific information existed to illustrate the nature and scope of the issue.
This week, a team of researchers from Sea Education Association (SEA), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and the University of Hawaii (UH) published a study of plastic marine debris based on data collected over 22 years by undergraduate students in the latest issue of the journal Science.
A previously undefined expanse of the western North Atlantic has been found to contain high concentrations of plastic debris, comparable to those observed in the region of the Pacific commonly referred to as the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch'.
More than 64,000 individual plastic pieces were collected at 6100 locations that were sampled yearly over the course of the study. A surface plankton net was used to collect plastic debris as well as biological organisms at each station. The highest concentrations of plastic were observed in a region centered at 32°N (roughly the latitude of Atlanta, GA) and extending from 22-38°N latitude. Numerical model simulations by Nikolai Maximenko (UH) explain why surface currents cause the plastic to accumulate in this region.
Said SEA scientist Kara Lavender Law, the Science paper’s lead author, 'Not only does this important data set provide the first rigorous scientific estimate of the extent and amount of floating plastic at an ocean-basin scale, but the data also confirm that basic ocean physics explains why the plastic accumulates in this region so far from shore.'
One surprising finding is that the concentration of floating plastic debris has not increased during the 22-year period of the study, despite the fact that the plastic disposal has increased substantially. The whereabouts of the 'missing plastic' is unknown.
Says SEA Dean Paul Joyce, 'The analysis presented in this Science article provides a robust scientific description of the extent of plastic pollution to date, which can be used to make better management and policy decisions, and to inform popular perceptions of this issue.'
A companion study published this week in Marine Pollution Bulletin details the characteristics of the plastic debris collected in these tows. Most of the plastic is millimeters in size and consists of polyethylene or polypropylene, materials that float in seawater. There is evidence that biological growth may alter the physical characteristics of the plastic over time, perhaps causing it to sink.
'I think some of the big questions are colonization: who actually lives on these pieces of plastic?' said Chris Reddy of WHOI, who was co-author on both papers. 'To what extent are ocean currents moving the small life on these plastic particles around the ocean?'
Data continue to be collected onboard SEA’s sailing research vessels in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by undergraduate students in the SEA Semester program. A dedicated research cruise, Plastics at SEA: North Atlantic Expedition, recently investigated the eastern boundary of the Atlantic accumulation zone.
'The several thousand SEA Semester undergraduate students who helped collect and count plastic debris over the decades have been essential contributors to this work,' said SEA president John Bullard. 'They have gained a much fuller understanding of the oceans and the role humans play both in the present and its future.'
The work was funded by the National Science Foundation.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, independent organization in Falmouth, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean's role in the changing global environment.
Sea Education Association (SEA) was founded in 1971 as a nonprofit educational institution, which provides challenging multi-disciplinary academic programs ashore and at sea. Its 12-week SEA Semester program for college undergraduates integrates marine science, maritime literature, history and policy and practical seamanship with deep-water oceanographic research. Since its founding over 7,000 students have participated in its programs.
 | Plastic pieces, typically millimeters in size, are hand-picked and enumerated from a sample collected with a surface plankton net. (Photo by Marilou Maglione, SEA) - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) © |
http://www.whoi.edu/
by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Click on the FB Like link to post this story to your FB wall
http://www.powerboat-world.com/index.cfm?nid=74011
9:32 PM Sat 28 Aug 2010 GMT
Click here for printer friendly version
Click here to send us feedback or comments about this story.
Click for further information on
Environment and the ocean
Related News Stories:
MORE STORIES ...
|
|
|
|
Our Advertisers are committed to our sport, please support them!
This site and its contents are © Copyright TetraMedia Pty. Ltd and/or the original author, photographer etc. All Rights Reserved.
Photographs are copyright by law. If you wish to use or buy a photograph you must contact the photographer directly (there is a hyperlink in most cases to their website, or do a Google search.) with your request.
Please do not contact Sail-World.com as we cannot give permission for use of other photographer’s images.
Only if the photographer named on the image is Sail-world.com, Powerboat-world.com or Marinebusiness-world.com
Contact us
.
Ph: +61 2 4977 2116 fax: +61 2 4977 2528
or complete our
feedback form
Contact us
.
View our Privacy Policy.
[ Go Home]
[ Banner Advertising Specification]
[Bot Archive ]
Customised news feeds -Marine Industry companies, Clubs and Associations have their own customised version of our Sail-World news feed on their website.
Look_here_to_see_examples
|
| | |
