[CINC] Article

[Lisa Angle]

Santa Barbara based filmmaker Annie Crawley, who many of you know, is along 
on this expedition with her camera http://bit.ly/H5xNj
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Lisa Angle at Ninety Degrees Media
Subscribe to my BLOG: http://www.ninetydegreesmedia.com/blog
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: <rdreher at roadrunner.com>
To: <channel_islands_naturalist_corps at rain.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 6:14 PM
Subject: [CINC] Article


Scientists study huge plastic patch in Pacific




Reuters – Members of the SEAPLEX (Scripps Environmental Accumulation of 
Plastic Expedition) attend a training to …
By Steve Gorman – Tue Aug 4, 8:42 am ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marine scientists from California are venturing this 
week to the middle of the North Pacific for a study of plastic debris 
accumulating across hundreds of miles (km) of open sea dubbed the "Great 
Pacific Garbage Patch."
A research vessel carrying a team of about 30 researchers, technicians and 
crew members embarked on Sunday on a three-week voyage from the Scripps 
Institution of Oceanography, based at the University of California at San 
Diego.
The expedition will study how much debris -- mostly tiny plastic 
fragments -- is collecting in an expanse of sea known as the North Pacific 
Ocean Gyre, how that material is distributed and how it affects marine life.
The debris ends up concentrated by circular, clockwise ocean currents within 
an oblong-shaped "convergence zone" hundreds of miles (km) across from end 
to end near the Hawaiian Islands, about midway between Japan and the West 
Coast of the United States.
The focus of the study will be on plankton, other microorganisms, small fish 
and birds.
"The concern is what kind of impact those plastic bits are having on the 
small critters on the low end of the ocean food chain," Bob Knox, deputy 
director of research at Scripps, said on Monday after the ship had spent its 
first full day at sea.
The 170-foot vessel New Horizon is equipped with a laboratory for on-board 
research, but scientists also will bring back samples for further study.
Little is known about the exact size and scope of the vast debris field 
discovered some years ago by fishermen and others in the North Pacific that 
is widely referred to as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch."
Large items readily visible from the deck of a boat are few and far between. 
Most of the debris consists of small plastic particles suspended at or just 
below the water surface, making it impossible to detect by aircraft or 
satellite images.
The debris zone shifts by as much as a thousand miles north and south on a 
seasonal basis, and drifts even farther south during periods of 
warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures known as El Nino, according to 
information from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Besides the potential harm to sea life caused by ingesting bits of plastic, 
the expedition team will look at whether the particles could carry other 
pollutants, such as pesticides, far out to sea, and whether tiny organisms 
attached to the debris could be transported to distant regions and thus 
become invasive species.
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