Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human-created solid material that has deliberately or accidentally been released in seas or the ocean.Floating oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the center of gyres and on coastlines, frequently washing aground, when it is known as beach litter or tidewrack.
In 2006, Ken Weiss published an article in the Los Angeles Times which was the first to make the public aware about the effects of the Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean. In 2009, a group of researchers decided to go out into the Pacific Ocean to prove if the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was real or a myth.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (also Pacific trash vortex and North Pacific Garbage Patch [9]) is a garbage patch, a gyre of marine debris particles, in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is located roughly from 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N . [ 10 ]
A massive collection of plastic and floating trash continues to expand in a region halfway between Hawaii and California. Converging low winds and ocean currents funnel marine debris into a ...
Marine debris is mainly discarded human rubbish which floats on, or is suspended in the ocean. Plastic pollution is harmful to marine life . Another concern is the runoff of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from intensive agriculture , and the disposal of untreated or partially treated sewage to rivers and subsequently oceans.
While "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" is a term often used by the media, it does not paint an accurate picture of the marine debris problem in the North Pacific Ocean. The name "Pacific Garbage Patch" has led many to believe that this area is a large and continuous patch of easily visible marine debris items such as bottles and other litter ...
Litter in the ocean either washes up on beaches or collects in ocean gyres such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. About 80 percent of marine debris comes from land-based sources. [22] Some litter that is collected can be recycled; however, degraded litter cannot be recycled and eventually degrades to sludge, often toxic.
America’s landfills—and the environmental havoc they create—are sizable. There are roughly 1,200 landfills currently in operation, and on average, each one takes up about 600 acres of land ...