The Geography of a Garbage Island

Recently massive plastic patches such as the one in the North Pacific Gyre, which is estimated to weigh over 3 million tons and covers an area twice the size of Texas, have gained international attention. According to researchers, this happens due to a clockwise trade wind that encircles the Pacific Rim. Today has a good video which describes it. VSB has a science lesson plan which explains ocean currents by using the floating rubber duckies we blogged about last year.


One Reply to “The Geography of a Garbage Island”

  1. SEWilco

    Yeah, very nice except for the detail of NBC’s reporter trying to connect his trash site in Florida with the Pacific Ocean gyre. He was a hop, skip, and a jump from the Sargasso Sea, if he’d ever heard of it.

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