This is pretty damned upsetting.

I don't believe it actually exists.

Like Dry Land?[/waterworld]

"The Coffee House reported in May about the North Pacific gyre becoming a dead zone for human plastic trash. This is clearly taking hold on the imagination of the public judging by the number of hits received.

People are particularly interested in seeing images of this nightmare but they have proved difficult to find. The Coffee House will endeavour to contact the organisation making these research trips into the Pacific, to see if they can release any suitable photos."

There will be no photos.

Remember, it's continent-sized, twice the size of Texas. Doesn't show up on Google Earth because... plastic is hard to see.

Well, do a Google image search of the Sargasso sea. It's the same idea. The maps all show that it about the size of Texas, but the pictures just show a little scum and seaweed here and there in the water.

Another good writeup of why it's not "visible from space, for pete's sake! twice the size of Texas! Gimme a break" [/skeptic]

The plastic shit that can kill the critters is on the scale of a dime, say. And it is as deep as 50 or 100 feet. It's not like a mound of trash at the local landfill dense and high and dry enough to walk on. It's big. It's sparse. It's there. It's crap. And it's preventable, since the bulk of it came from land anyway.

Should show up on sonar or ultrasound or something, shouldn't it?

I read all the recommendations in Armin's original link.
Now I am happy because I already follow all of them.
But unhappy because if they are this basic, most people obviously don't.

Glatt - re: photo2 - That looks like a line of seaweed. I've seen lots of those off the back of boats for years.
I really don't understand why this thing that supposedly exists can't be seen. Why hasn't any number of environmental groups been able to get one stinkin image of it.

shhhh. it's cuz they don't want us to know that the massive size of this baby is what is really causing the waterline to rise along coastal areas. they're using global warming as an cover up for the massive danger posed by this unsolveable problem! holy crap! :tinfoil:

Because the media has completely misrepresented what it actually is. It is in no way an "island," nor is it floating. It is basically just dirty water, a soup of tiny bits of plastic.

From BigV's link: when you trawl the area with fine mesh (used for catching shrimp,) this is what you get.
http://cellar.org/2007/manta1.jpg
http://cellar.org/2007/manta2.jpg
http://cellar.org/2007/manta3.jpg

The question, just like with global warming, is not whether it "really" exists but what it means. Is it a long-term danger? Is there realistically anything we can do about it? (BigV's link says no, because trawling the whole area would by definition kill all the sea life it scoops up too.) But it's not an "island of trash." That's what we prefer to call Long Island, NY.

I asked Dazza about this and he said that the currents etc do cause rubbish to collect in that general area, but it's not an 'island the size of texas'.

Thanks Clod - I was leaving work and completely missed BigV's link.
Makes a lot more sense now.

So much for my relocating the polar bears to garbage island plan...