Great Pacific Garbage Patch Discovery
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Questions and Answers

What did Captain Charles Moore discover while sailing from Hawaii to California in 1997?

  • A trail of breadcrumbs leading him home
  • A steady stream of plastics bobbing in the ocean (correct)
  • A large number of plankton floating on the ocean surface
  • A deserted island made entirely of plastic waste

    • What did Captain Charles Moore compare the plastics he noticed to?

  • A trash vortex in the ocean
  • A deserted island made entirely of plastic waste
  • A trail of breadcrumbs like Hansel and Gretel leading him home (correct)
  • A sturdy landmass in the Pacific Ocean

    • What did Captain Charles Moore find using a net system to sample the surface of the ocean?

  • Plankton but no plastic floating in the ocean
  • Six times as much plastic as plankton floating in the ocean (correct)
  • An equal amount of plastic and plankton floating in the ocean
  • The source of the litter floating in the ocean

    • What creates the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP)?

    <p>Swirling ocean currents known as gyres</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How has the GPGP been depicted in the media since its discovery?

    <p>As a floating mass of plastic</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main cause of plastics being sucked into the GPGP?

    <p>Swirling ocean currents</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did Captain Charles Moore discover in 1997?

    <p>A murky soup of different sized plastics</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why is it difficult to capture an overview of the garbage patch?

    <p>The patch is highly mobile</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was the scale of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch predicted to be in a 2018 study?

    <p>79,000 tonnes of ocean plastic in an area of 1.6 million sq km</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did an advertising stunt for World Oceans Day in 2017 contribute to people's perception of the garbage patch?

    <p>It portrayed the patch as a solid mass of plastics</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What percentage of the estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are microplastics?

    <p>94%</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the advertising stunt for World Oceans Day call on the United Nations to do?

    <p>Rename the GPGP Trash Isles</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What percentage of the total mass of garbage found in the GPGP is debris greater than 5cm in size?

    <p>75%</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How did people perceive the scale of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch after the 2017 advertising stunt for World Oceans Day?

    <p>As a solid landmass that could be walked across</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What misconception did the advertising stunt for World Oceans Day contribute to?

    <p>It played into myths surrounding the GPGP</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why do many misconceptions still exist about remote garbage patches?

    <p>Few people have ventured into these areas</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

    • In 1997, Captain Charles Moore discovered a large amount of plastic debris while sailing from Hawaii to California.
    • He compared the plastics he noticed to a "plastic soup" due to their abundance and fragmentation.
    • Using a net system to sample the surface of the ocean, Moore found a significant amount of small plastic pieces, including microbeads, bags, and other debris.

    Formation and Size of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

    • The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is created by a combination of ocean currents and winds that collect and concentrate plastic debris in a specific region.
    • The GPGP has been depicted in the media as a large, island-sized patch of trash, but this is a misconception.
    • In reality, the GPGP is a large area of the ocean where plastic debris is highly concentrated, but not a solid island.
    • The main cause of plastics being sucked into the GPGP is the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a system of ocean currents that collects and concentrates debris.

    Perception and Misconceptions

    • It is difficult to capture an overview of the garbage patch because it is dispersed over a large area and composed of small pieces of debris.
    • A 2018 study predicted the scale of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to be around 1.6 million square kilometers.
    • An advertising stunt for World Oceans Day in 2017, where a "trash island" was created, contributed to people's perception of the garbage patch as a solid island.
    • However, this stunt perpetuated a misconception about the nature of the GPGP.
    • Many misconceptions still exist about remote garbage patches because they are difficult to visualize and study.
    • In reality, the GPGP is composed of around 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic, with microplastics making up around 99% of the total count by number.
    • Debris greater than 5cm in size accounts for around 25% of the total mass of garbage found in the GPGP.

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    Description

    Take this quiz to test your knowledge about the discovery of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a massive area in the North Pacific Ocean filled with plastic waste. Learn about Captain Charles Moore's encounter with the patch and its environmental impact.

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