North Atlantic garbage patch
The North Atlantic garbage patch is a garbage patch of man-made marine debris found floating within the North Atlantic Gyre, originally documented in 1972.[1] A 22-year research study conducted by the Sea Education Association estimates the patch to be hundreds of kilometers across, with a density of more than 200,000 pieces of debris per square kilometer.[2][3][4][5] The garbage originates from human-created waste traveling from rivers into the ocean and mainly consists of microplastics.[6] The garbage patch is a large risk to wildlife (and to humans) through plastic consumption and entanglement.[7] There have only been a few awareness and clean-up efforts for the North Atlantic garbage patch, such as The Garbage Patch State at UNESCO and The Ocean Cleanup, as most of the research and cleanup efforts have been focused on the Great Pacific garbage patch, a similar garbage patch in the north Pacific.[8][9]
Characteristics
Location and size
The patch is located from 22°N to 38°N and its western and eastern boundaries are unclear.
Sources
The North Atlantic garbage patch originates from human-created waste that travels from continental rivers into the ocean.[13] Once the trash has made it into the ocean, it is centralized by gyres, which collect trash in large masses.[11] The surface of the garbage patch consists of microplastics such as polyethylene and polypropylene which make up common household items.[6] Denser material that is thought to exist under the surface of the ocean includes plastic called polyethylene terephthalate that is used to make soft drink and water bottles.[6] However, these denser plastics are not observed in the North Atlantic garbage patch because the methods to collect samples only capture the surface microplastics.[6]
Research
A joint study by the
A recent study published in December 2022 investigated the microbial communities found in the North Atlantic Garbage Patch and compared the data to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Researchers collected plastic debris from the garbage patch in 2019 and analyzed the microbes using 16S rRNA gene analysis. The microbes that were identified and the communities they formed were deemed the plastisphere of the garbage patch. Microbes were typically found on polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) particles. Because of this, the researchers also investigated the potential of the microbes to degrade the plastic and potentially contribute to decreasing the garbage patches. Based on the microbes identified, only 4.07% were members of genera that could degrade the plastics found in the garbage patch. Along with that, the bacteria were only known to degrade PE and not PP. The researchers concluded that more investigation is needed to find a natural way to combat the accumulation of plastic in the garbage patch.[16]
Negative effects
Since a large amount of plastic in the North Atlantic Garbage Patch is in the form of microplastics, it is easier for marine animals to ingest them. These small plastics can be mistaken for fish eggs. Along with that, the smaller pieces of microplastics can be ingested by animals that are towards the bottom of the food chain such as zooplankton. The plastic that accumulates in the zooplankton then builds up inside the organisms that eat them.[17] There has been little to no research on how microplastics can move up the food chain and potentially be magnified in larger organisms. However, it is predicted that the biomagnification of plastics in the food web will depend on how much plastic is ingested and retained, with retention being heavily dependent on the size of the plastic ingested.[18] This accumulation and potential biomagnification of plastic can lead to malnourished organisms and can be a threat to the biodiversity of the ocean. Along with that, the accumulation of microplastics in marine life can be transferred to humans when they consume contaminated organisms which could cause adverse health effects.[19]
A recent study conducted by The Ocean Cleanup and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research found that the levels of microplastics on the surface of the North Atlantic Garbage Patch are close to exceeding safe levels for sea life in the region. While the exact consequences of this are unknown, the researchers claim there could be significant adverse effects on marine life if something is not done to combat the issue.[20] Another study conducted in 2021 looked at the accumulation of chemicals and plastics in species that are in the middle of the food web in the North Atlantic. These species included Sardina pilchardus (sardines), Scomber spp., and Trachurus trachurus (mackerels). They found that while the concentrations of several chemicals inside the fish were lower than what is found in the same species in adjacent areas, they found that there were plastic pieces in the stomachs of 29% of the sampled organisms.[21]
Awareness and clean-up efforts
Few efforts have been made to clean up the North Atlantic Garbage Patch, as removing the microplastics "would likely cause as much harm as good because of all the other small creatures in the ocean that would get filtered out too".[11] On 11 April 2013, in order to create awareness, artist Maria Cristina Finucci founded The Garbage Patch State at UNESCO[8] –Paris in front of Director General Irina Bokova. The Garbage Patch State was first in a series of events under the patronage of UNESCO and of Italian Ministry of the Environment, sparking a series of art exhibits across the world used to bring attention to the size and severity of the garbage patches and incite awareness and action.[23]
Dutch inventor Boyan Slat and his nonprofit organization The Ocean Cleanup is developing advanced technologies to rid the oceans of plastic.[9] Cleanup is planned to start in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch first, and eventually move around to the other patches across the globe.[24] Aside from cleaning the microplastics from the oceans, the Ocean Cleanup is also developing technologies to remove larger pieces of plastic from rivers, which are largely attributed as the main sources of plastic in the ocean.[13]
See also
- Ecosystem of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
- Great Pacific garbage patch
- Indian Ocean garbage patch
- Plastisphere
- Sargasso Sea
References
- S2CID 20038716.
- ^ a b "Mānoa: UH Mānoa scientist predicts plastic garbage patch in Atlantic Ocean | University of Hawaii News". manoa.hawaii.edu. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
- ^ a b c Gorman, Steve (4 August 2009). "Scientists study huge ocean garbage patch". Perthnow.com.au. Archived from the original on 29 January 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
- ^ "Scientists find giant plastic rubbish dump floating in the Atlantic". Perthnow.com.au. 26 February 2010. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
- ^ a b c d Gill, Victoria (24 February 2010). "Plastic rubbish blights Atlantic Ocean". BBC News. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
- ^ a b c d Orcutt, Mike (19 August 2010). "How Bad Is the Plastic Pollution in the Atlantic?". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
- S2CID 51944658.
- ^ a b "The garbage patch territory turns into a new state - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization". unesco.org. 22 May 2019.
- ^ a b "About". The Ocean Cleanup. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
- ^ "Scientists find giant plastic rubbish dump floating in the Atlantic | Perth Now". 14 April 2012. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- ^ ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- ^ "The Atlantic garbage patch - less-known than its Pacific sibling, equally deadly". Red, Green, and Blue. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
- ^ a b "Rivers". The Ocean Cleanup. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
- ^ S2CID 13552090.
- ^ The size, mass, and composition of plastic debris in the western North Atlantic Ocean Mar Pollut Bull. 2010 Oct; 60(10):1873-8.
- )
- ^ Center, Loggerhead Marinelife (18 November 2016). "Silent but Sneaky: How the North Atlantic Garbage Patch Threatens Marine Life". Loggerhead Marinelife Center. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
- S2CID 133936423, retrieved 28 March 2023
- ISSN 2077-1312.
- ^ erika (11 August 2022). "North Atlantic Microplastic Concentrations May Exceed Safe Levels for Marine Life Without Intervention • Updates • The Ocean Cleanup". The Ocean Cleanup. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
- S2CID 242067709.
- ^ Transport and deposition of ocean-sourced microplastic particles by a North Atlantic hurricane, Anna C. Ryan et al, Nature (journal) - Communications Earth & Environment, 2023-11-23, accessed 2023-12-21
- ^ "Rifiuti diventano stato, Unesco riconosce 'Garbage Patch'" [Waste becomes state, Unesco recognizes 'Garbage Patch']. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
- ^ www.theoceancleanup.com, The Ocean Cleanup. "www.theoceancleanup.com". The Ocean Cleanup. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
External links
- "Sargasso Sea Commission". Archived from the original on 31 October 2015.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - Plastics at SEA: North Atlantic Expedition
- The Ocean Cleanup Array