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Pacific Ocean houses world’s biggest landfill

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 6, 2009 at 10:57 pm

From Accu-Weather:

“The Pacific Ocean, the biggest and deepest body of water in the world, covers about 46 percent of the Earth’s surface and is home to millions of marine animals. The ocean is also home to arguably one of the biggest and most unpleasant manmade phenomena in existence, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The floating mass of trash, located north of the Hawaiian Islands, is estimated to be twice the size of Texas and is made up of at least two smaller patches, the largest of which is estimated to contain at least 3.5 million pounds of trash, according to www.greatgarbagepatch.org.

The phenomenon is caused by a gyre, or a collision of warm and cold oceanic currents, known as the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone (STCZ). This current acts like a vortex and swirls most of the trash into the middle of the ocean. …”

Read more from Accu-Weather by clicking here.

August 6, 2009 · Filed Under Pacific Ocean Garbage Dump

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One Response to “Pacific Ocean houses world’s biggest landfill”

  1. The week that was, 8/3-9/2009 | Chance of Rain on August 10th, 2009 8:05 am

    [...] to contain at least 3.5 million pounds of trash, according to http://www.greatgarbagepatch.org — Aquafornia spotting an [...]

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