The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Large Pacific garbage dump Today, scientists believe that the world's largest garbage dump is in the Pacific, not on land. Known as Great Pacific Trash Patch, it is 10 million miles away from the coast of California, floating on both sides of Hawaii and spinning under the water. It is estimated to be twice the size of Texas. It contains 100 million tons of waste plastics such as water bottles, bags, DVD boxes, toothbrushes, toys, shampoo bottles, cling films, Tupperware, credit cards, plastic plates, cup glasses.

Unfortunately, the influence of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is far beyond view. According to a recent survey by The Ocean Cleanup, 84% of the plastic at the Great Pacific landfill contains harmful chemical pollutants. This will affect the ocean in the form of increased acidification, but to be frank, in the long run, we do not know the environmental impact of these chemicals. But this is not the worst. Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of the five revolution in the world. There, plastics are beginning to accumulate at astonishing rates. In the North Pacific, the South Pacific, the North Atlantic, the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, there is a unique patch that slowly spreads to the sea.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific Pacific Garbage Swirl, extends to the waters of North America from the west coast to Japan. The patch actually consists of garbage patches in the west in the vicinity of Japan and garbage patches in the eastern part between Hawaii and California. These rotating debris areas are connected by a North Pacific subtropical convergence belt several hundred kilometers north of Hawaii. This confluence is where warm water from the South Pacific meets the cooler water from the North Pole. This area is like an expressway that moves garbage from one patch to the other. The whole Great Pacific Garbage Patch is surrounded by subtropical circulation in the North Pacific. Ocean circulation is a circular ocean current system formed by the wind pattern of the earth and the force generated by rotation of the planet. These four currents move clockwise with an area of ​​20 million square kilometers (7.7 million square miles).

Big Pacific Garbage Patch is not the only one. There is another batch of garbage in the western Pacific, so it is technically known as the East Pacific garbage patch. There is one patch in the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean, and two patches in the Atlantic Ocean. Several researchers oppose the word "patch". Because it means plastics visible in plenty, in reality most garbage is hidden in small pieces under the surface.