North Atlantic and Pacific Gyres

The beach, oceans, and all that they contain are some of my favorite things.

I am scuba certified and have had the awesome privilege to explore some of that natural beauty firsthand.

A photo I took in the Red Sea, Egypt, where I was certified.

 
It is one thing to go to an aquarium and view the varying marine creatures through three inches of plexiglass, but it is a completely and utterly astounding adventure to be three feet from being able to touch a Goliath Grouper with your own hand, or having to look up with surfacing because of the jellyfish that is gently floating above your head.  Since becoming personally involved in the oceans I made it a point to learn about protecting those amazing waters.  Sometimes learning the truth isn't nearly as fun as you hope...

I learned there are five main gyres, or ocean currents, in the world

1. The Indian Ocean Gyre
2. South Atlantic Ocean Gyre
3. South Pacific Ocean Gyre
4. North Atleantic Ocean Gyre
5. North Pacific Ocean Gyre

The two that I have studied are the North Pacific and Atlantic gyres or garbage patches.  The Pacific gyre has received a lot of attention because of the tons of trash that are dumped into it's waters.  The patch is estimated to be twice the size of Texas and about 7 million tons... yes 7 MILLION tons. Some areas of the Pacific garbage patch can be up to 9 feet deep, and in those areas the amount of plastic in the water outnumbers the plankton.  The trash found in the water is predominantly plastics where 80% of it being land based and the remaining 20% coming from either oil platforms or ships.  It is also estimated that 5 to 10% of all fish living in the North Pacific waters contain some small piece of plastic.  If you look back to the CHRIS JORDAN post of those albatross carcasses filled with plastic this is where that plastic came from. 

The other but less researched garbage patch is the North Atlantic gyre.  A brief article from The Discovery Channel discussed the issues facing the North Atlantic gyre and the plastic found within it's waters.  The trouble with these underwater landfills is that scientists are having a hard time measuring the full scope of the landfill because of the ever shifting nature of the oceans.  With every trawl thrown out and brought back the researchers found more and different type of plastic.  The fear is that without some sort of drastic change these garbage patches will grow at an alarming rate.

As an a beach, ocean, water I want to say that I am doing my part to clean up the oceans.  That because we are teaching these children to recycle more and use less plastic we can slow down the growing garbage patches in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.