Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Great Pacific Garbage Patch
ARTICLE
leveled
ARTICLE
leveled
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific. Marine debris is litter that ends up in the ocean, seas, and other large bodies of water.
Grades
4 - 12+
Subjects
Biology, Ecology, Earth Science, Oceanography
Loading ...
Leveled by
Share on Twitter
Share on Facebook
Share on Pinterest
Share on Google Classroom
Share on MS Teams
Share via email
Selected text level
This resource is also available in
Spanish
The
is a collection of
in the North Pacific
is
that ends up in oceans,
, and other large bodies of water.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific trash
, spans waters from the
of North America to Japan. The patch is actually
of the Western Garbage Patch, located near Japan, and the Eastern Garbage Patch, located between the U.S. states of Hawai'i and California.
These areas of spinning debris are linked together by the North Pacific Subtropical
, located a few hundred kilometers north of Hawai'i. This convergence zone is where warm water from the South Pacific meets up with cooler water from the
. The zone acts like a
that moves debris from one patch to another.
The entire
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
is
by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. The National
Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines a gyre as a large system of swirling
ocean
. Increasingly, however, it also refers to the garbage patch as a
vortex
of
waste and
debris
broken down into small particles in the
ocean
. The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is formed by four
currents
rotating clockwise around an area of 20 million square kilometers (7.7 million square miles): the California
current
, the North Equatorial
current
, the Kuroshio
current
, and the North Pacific
current
The area in the center of a gyre tends to be very calm and
. The circular motion of the gyre draws
debris
into this
stable
center, where it becomes trapped. A
plastic
water bottle
off the
of California, for instance, takes the California
Current
south toward Mexico. There, it may catch the North Equatorial
Current
, which crosses the vast Pacific. Near the
coast
of Japan, the bottle may
north on the powerful Kuroshiro
Current
. Finally, the bottle
travels
eastward on the North Pacific
Current
. The gently rolling
vortexes
of the Eastern and Western Garbage Patches gradually draw in the bottle.
The amount of
debris
in the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
because much of it is not
. Many
plastics
, for instance, do not wear down; they simply break into tinier and tinier pieces.
For many people, the idea of a “garbage patch”
up images of an
of trash floating on the
ocean
. In reality, these patches are almost entirely made up of tiny bits of
plastic
, called
Micro
plastics
can’t always be seen by the naked eye. Even
doesn’t show a giant patch of garbage. The
micro
plastics
of the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
can simply make the water look like a cloudy soup. This soup is intermixed with larger items, such as fishing gear and shoes.
The
beneath the Great Pacific Garbage Patch may also be an underwater trash heap.
and
recently
that about 70 percent of marine debris actually sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
While oceanographers and
the existence of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it was a racing boat captain by the name of Charles Moore who actually discovered the trash vortex. Moore was sailing from Hawai'i to California after competing in a
race. Crossing the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, Moore and his crew noticed millions of pieces of plastic surrounding his ship.
Marine Debris
No one knows how much
debris
makes up the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
. The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is too large for scientists to
. In addition, not all of the trash floats on the surface.
debris
can sink centimeters or even several meters beneath the surface, making the
vortex
’s area nearly impossible to
80 percent of
plastic
in the
ocean
is
to come from land-based sources, with the remaining 20 percent coming from boats and other
marine
sources. These percentages vary by region, however. A 2018 study found that synthetic fishing nets made up nearly half the mass of the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
, due largely to
ocean
current
dynamics and increased fishing activity in the Pacific
Ocean
While many different types of trash enter the
ocean
plastics
make up the majority of
marine
debris
for two reasons. First,
plastic
’s
, low cost, and
mean that it’s being used in more and more
and
products. Second,
plastic
goods do not biodegrade but instead, break down into smaller pieces.
In the
ocean
, the sun breaks down these
plastics
into tinier and tinier pieces, a process known as
. Most of this
debris
comes from
plastic
bags, bottle caps,
plastic
water bottles, and Styrofoam cups.
Marine
debris
can be very
to
marine
life in the gyre. For instance, loggerhead
sea
turtles often mistake
plastic
bags for jellies, their favorite food. Albatrosses mistake
plastic
for fish eggs and feed them to chicks, which die of
or
Seals
and other
are especially at risk. They can get
in
plastic
fishing nets, which are being
discarded
largely due to inclement weather and illegal fishing.
Seals
and other mammals often drown in these forgotten nets—a
known as “
.”
Marine
debris
can also disturb
marine
in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. As
micro
plastics
and other trash collect on or near the surface of the
ocean
, they block sunlight from reaching
and
below.
Algae
and
plankton
are the most common
, or
, in the
marine
food web
Autotrophs
are
that can produce their own
from carbon and sunlight.
If
algae
and
plankton
communities are
, the entire
food web
may change. Animals that feed on
algae
and
plankton
, such as fish and turtles, will have less food. If
of those animals
, there will be less food for
such as tuna, sharks, and whales. Eventually,
becomes less
and more
for people.
These dangers are
by the fact that
plastics
both
out and
harmful
. As
plastics
break down through
photodegradation
, they
leach
out colorants and chemicals, such as
, that have been linked to
and health problems. Conversely,
plastics
can also
absorb
pollutants
, such as
, from the
seawater
. These chemicals can then enter the
when
by
marine
life.
Patching Up the Patch
Because the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
is so far from any country’s
coastline
, no nation will take
or provide the
to clean it up. Charles Moore, the man who
discovered
the
vortex
, says cleaning up the garbage patch would “
any country” that tried it.
Many individuals and
, however, are
to
the patch from growing.
Cleaning up marine debris is not as easy as it sounds. Many microplastics are the same size as small sea animals, so nets designed to scoop up trash would catch these creatures as well. Even if we could design nets that would just catch garbage, the size of the oceans makes this job far too time-consuming to consider. The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program has estimated that it would take 67 ships one year to clean up less than one percent of the North Pacific Ocean.
Many
have
traveled
through the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
. Charles Moore, who
discovered
the patch in 1997, continues to raise awareness through his own
environmental
organization
, the Algalita
Marine
Re
Foundation. During a 2014
expedition
, Moore and his team used
, to
from above the
of the trash below. The
drones
determined that there is 100 times more
plastic
by weight than
measured
. The team also
discovered
more permanent
plastic
features, or
islands
, some over 15 meters (50 feet) in length.
All the floating
plastic
in the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
inspired National Geographic
David de Rothschild and his team at Adventure Ecology to create a large
made of
plastic
bottles: the
. The sturdiness of the
Plastiki
displayed the strength and
durability
of
plastics
, the creative ways that they can be repurposed, and the threat they pose to the
environment
when they don’t
. In 2010, the crew successfully
the
Plastiki
from San Francisco, California, to Sydney, Australia.
Scientists and
agree that limiting or eliminating our use of disposable plastics and increasing our use of biodegradable resources will be the best way to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Organizations such as the Plastic Pollution Coalition and the Plastic Oceans Foundation are using social media and direct action campaigns to support individuals,
, and
in their
from
, disposable plastics to biodegradable or reusable materials.
Fast Fact
Quotable Captain
"So on the way back to our home port in Long Beach, California, we decided to take a shortcut through the gyre, which few seafarers ever cross. Fishermen shun it because its waters lack the nutrients to support an abundant catch. Sailors dodge it because it lacks the wind to propel their sailboats.
"Yet as I gazed from the deck at the surface of what ought to have been a pristine ocean, I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic.
"It seemed unbelievable, but I never found a clear spot. In the week it took to cross the subtropical high, no matter what time of day I looked, plastic debris was floating everywhere: bottles, bottle caps, wrappers, fragments. Months later, after I discussed what I had seen with the oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, perhaps the world's leading expert on flotsam, he began referring to the area as the 'eastern garbage patch.'"
Fast Fact
Strange Cargo
When ships are caught in storms, they often lose cargo to the oceans. The following are just a few of the strange items that have washed up on shores:
In 1990, five shipping containers of Nike sneakers and work boots were lost to the Pacific in a storm. People in Washington and Oregon snatched up the shoes on shore, holding swap meets to find matched pairs to wear or sell.
In 1992, rubber duckies floated in the Pacific when a ship lost tens of thousands of bathtub toys. The ducks were accompanied by turtles, beavers, and frogs.
In 1994, a ship lost 34,000 pieces of hockey gear, including gloves, chest protectors, and shin guards.
Fast Fact
Worldwide Garbage Patches
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not the only marine trash vortex—it’s just the biggest. The Atlantic and Indian Oceans both have trash vortexes. Even shipping routes in smaller bodies of water, such as the North Sea, are developing garbage patches.
Articles & Profiles
NOAA: Marine Debris—De-mystifying the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’
Audio
NOAA: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Images
National Geographic Science: Photos: Giant Ocean-Trash Vortex Documented—A First
Video
Good Morning America: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
TEDx: Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Website
The Plastiki Expedition
Algalita Marine Research Foundation
Credits
Media Credits
The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.
Editor
Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing
, Emdash Editing
Producer
National Geographic Society
other
April 23, 2025
User Permissions
For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.
Media
If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.
Text
Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our
Interactives
Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.
Related Resources