Discover how massive waste accumulation occurs in the Pacific Ocean due to natural phenomena and human activities, and its impact on marine life.
Extract
[...] They can then die of hunger or poisoned by pollutants. Question Explain how plastic particles (microplastics) are dangerous for all living beings. The danger lies in the fact that these microplastic particles risk contaminating the entire food chain. Small crustaceans and other living beings that feed by filtering water ingest these particles, which end up in their flesh. Predators that hunt and eat them (the fish we consume, among others) risk contaminating themselves by ingesting them and so on up to humans. [...]
[...] Question Use document 1 to explain how such a pile of waste could have accumulated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. This accumulation of waste has been able to accumulate in the middle of the Pacific Ocean due to several natural phenomena: wind, marine currents, and the rotation of the Earth. The waste has grouped together at the heart of a high-pressure zone, that is to say, without wind at its surface. In this place, there is therefore no current to push the waste away. [...]
[...] While navigating on the Pacific Ocean, Charles Moore discovers a massive accumulation of waste (made up of plastics, toxic product cans, fishing nets, tires, These wastes form a huge floating dump in the middle of the ocean. Question Indicate the location of this trash in the Pacific? This floating dump is located 1000 kilometers off the coast of California. Question Specify why no one had noticed this place. If no one had noticed this place yet, it's simply because this geographical area is of very little interest to sailors. [...]
[...] Curtis Ebbesmeyer lists all the sites where these ducks washed up to check if the established marine currents with the help of oceanographic buoys are accurate. He discovers, thanks to these ducks, that an object floats and drifts on the waters following a 13,000-kilometer loop. Question Explain how large plastic waste is deadly for birds, turtles, or mammals. These animals, when chasing their prey, risk getting trapped in this mass of waste. They risk drowning or strangulation. There is also a risk that they will take these wastes for prey and ingest them. [...]
