TECH

The Plastic Island in the PacificThe huge clump of hundreds of thousands of tons of plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean, known as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch," lying between Hawaii and California, has four to 16 times as much plastic waste as previously thought. According to scientific research, the largest area of ​​plastic debris accumulation in the world is at least the size of three France.Currently, at least 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic weighing 80,000 tonnes are currently drifting in the area, which is equivalent to the weight of 500 Boeing 747 aircraft. The data are from a three-year mapping conducted by an international team of affiliated scientists to The Ocean Cleanup Foundation, six universities and an airline sensor company.The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports. To analyze the total extent of plastic waste, the team carried out the most comprehensive sampling effort, crossing the debris field with 30 vessels simultaneously, complemented by two aircraft surveys.To increase raised surface area and quantify larger pieces of plastic - objects including discarded fishing nets several meters in length - a C-130 Hercules aircraft was equipped with advanced sensors to collect multispectral images (which ensure very more accurate) and 3D images of oceanic waste.The fleet collected a total of 1.2 million plastic samples, while airborne sensors scanned more than 300 km2 of the ocean surface.The results show that the floating trash deposit measures 1.6 million square kilometers, almost three times the size of France. Only 8% of the mass of debris is formed by microplastics, defined as pieces smaller than 5 millimeters in size, and the other 92% are larger debris.By comparing the amount of microplastics with historical measurements, the team found that plastic sheeting levels in the area have grown exponentially since measurements began in the 1970s.

Source: exame.com