{"id":533395,"date":"2010-04-18T19:01:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-18T23:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864176.post-8866396085331546384"},"modified":"2010-04-18T19:04:55","modified_gmt":"2010-04-18T23:04:55","slug":"plastic-soup-found-in-atlantic-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/533395","title":{"rendered":"“Plastic Soup” Found in Atlantic Ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"

CBS has a report that the Atlantic ocean may have an equivalent to the pacific ocean gyre – “Plastic Soup” Found in Atlantic Ocean<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Researchers are warning of a new blight on the ocean: a swirl of confetti-like plastic debris stretching over thousands of square miles in a remote expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

The floating garbage – hard to spot from the surface and spun together by a vortex of currents – was documented by two groups of scientists who trawled the sea between scenic Bermuda and Portugal’s mid-Atlantic Azores islands.<\/p>\n

The studies describe a soup of micro-particles similar to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a phenomenon discovered a decade ago between Hawaii and California that researchers say is likely to exist in other places around the globe.<\/p>\n

“We found the great Atlantic garbage patch,” said Anna Cummins, who collected plastic samples on a sailing voyage in February.<\/p>\n

The debris is harmful for fish, sea mammals – and at the top of the food chain, potentially humans – even though much of the plastic has broken into such tiny pieces they are nearly invisible.<\/p>\n

Since there is no realistic way of cleaning the oceans, advocates say the key is to keep more plastic out by raising awareness and, wherever possible, challenging a throwaway culture that uses non-biodegradable materials for disposable products.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n