Pacific garbage patch: huge island of trash the size of France

Imagine the area of France, multiply it by three and flunk all images trash to the brim. Looks like the Great Pacific garbage patch the size of this dump over a million square kilometers, which is just amazing.

First odd piles of garbage in the open sea, said oceanographer Charles Moore. With his light hand, the territory received the nickname of "Eastern garbage continent", that given the size of the problem, not so far from the truth.

The great Pacific garbage patch formed by ocean currents, over time, gathered all waste in one area. At the center of the spot appeared a large whirlpool that pulls dirt from the entire North Pacific ocean. He did not give the trash heaps once again to spread to different corners.

Earlier it was believed that the main part of the spot is plastic. However, a group of scientists conducted a more detailed analysis of this incredible pile of garbage and it turned out that the dump Large garbage patch like a little. No, then of course there are heaps of plastic waste and household garbage, but they make up a relatively small part.

The basis of the spot formed old fishing nets and other gear. They take about 46% of the total spot size, that is, 79-80, 000 tons of garbage.

For oceanographers, this discovery was a surprise. It was believed that the gear will not be more than 20% — the number in the other ocean garbage patches, where most of the mass is household waste.

According to the latest data, now the stain contains approximately 352 million tons of garbage. Most likely, it's much more: the survey was conducted from the air and we just don't know how much garbage is under the ocean surface.

Now the researchers plan to conduct a more detailed assessment of ocean dump from the satellite. However, it is already quite clear: the Great garbage patch — a problem that is only getting bigger. And, most importantly, scientists have no idea how this very problem to solve.