The Five Ocean Garbage Patches
This story map covers the main areas of the ocean that have accumulated physical pollution and/or waste, and where it has come from.
We are asking how much waste gets collected in our world's oceans and where it is originating from. This is extremely important in more ways than one. The first and most significant is that the existence of the human race depends upon it. Without our oceans in equilibrium in temperature, sea level, and overall "cleanliness" then climate change will rampantly destroy our atmosphere and make earth inhabitable to humans and many species of plants and animals. Another reason of importance is do we really want to live in a world where our oceans are heavily polluted? This will mean any water activity could be dangerous putting us at risk of infection or disease, and ocean life will largely cease to exist destroying the natural beauty of our oceans. The oceans are also a direct representation of the rest of our world. If our oceans look dead and over-polluted so will the majority of our earth, as stated above our oceans keep the world in equilibrium.
The picture shown here is research conducted by NASA's scientific visualization studio. They have let out thousands of buoys to track water temperatures, salinity, and other things including ocean currents and where garbage would be accumulating. After all, buoys were released it is observed that they typically float into 5 known gyres (a weak type of whirlpool circulating in an ocean), these 5 gyres are going to be the topic of research and discussion in this story map. (Shirah and Mitchell 2015).
The first major of the 5 Great Garbage Patches is the Indian Ocean Gyre Garbage Patch. It's located in the southern part of the Indian Ocean and it is estimated that there are approximately 10,000 garbage particles per square kilometer. (Kimberly Riskas 2019)
The Indian Ocean Garbage Patch is polluted by 5 main countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, and Bangladesh. But the primary source of the Indian Ocean Garbage Patch is Kuta Beach, Bali in Indonesia. Due to strong winds and high currents during the winter months, thousands of pounds of debris are brought to the beach which eventually make its way down south to the Indian Ocean Garbage Patch. The garbage has completely taken over the beach and gained popularity, sadly not for the scenic views, but the incredible amount of garbage that has piled up on shore. Due to the poor state of the beach, most of the marine life has died or their population in the area has immensely decreased.
Map By: Rastin
The North Pacific Garbage Patch is the biggest gyre out of all five major oceanic gyres. It covers most of the North Pacific, ranging from Canada, the United States, Mexico, and across the ocean to Japan and China. The debris consists of 2.7 million metric tons of plastic and floating trash that covers 20 million square kilometers of water. The North Pacific Garbage Patch is estimated to have started in 1945 and scientists have found plastics that are over 50 years old. There are 3 major contributing factors to the vast size of The North Pacific Garbage Patch. The three contributors are Seal Beach in Los Angeles, Imperial Beach located south of San Diego, and on the other side of the ocean Shui Hau Beach, Hong Kong. (L. Lebreton 2018)
Seal Beach is located at the end of the San Gabriel River that flows runoff water from 50 different cities (Laylan Connelly 2019) In the Los Angeles river basin. Due to storms and flooding, the San Gabriel River carries all the pilled up garbage from the 50 cities and dumps it straight into the North Pacific and according to the Coastal Commission, 80% (Laylan Connelly 2019) of the trash that enters The North Pacific is carried out from The San Gabriel River.
Imperial Beach is just south of San Diego and north of Tijuana and it is also the last stop for all the sewage covering the whole city. Due to poor recycling practices in Tijuana and poor sewage management in San Diego, Imperial Beach has become a resting break for garbage that is waiting to enter the North Pacific Ocean.
The third and final source is Shui Hau Beach in Hong Kong. Due to regular rain and flooding, garbage from mainland China is carried and rested on the banks of Shui Hau Beach. It is estimated that every time a rainfall or flooding occurs, more than 100 tons of debris float down to the beach and is carried all the way to the North Pacific Garbage Patch.
Map By: Ivan
South Pacific Garbage Patch
The South Pacific Garbage Patch is in the middle of Australia and South America, just north of Antarctica. The Patch consists of 2.6 million square kilometers of plastic and debris which is almost twice the size of Texas. The South Pacific Garbage Patch was first noticed in 2011 after evidence showed that a garbage patch would start to develop in the region. Six years later in 2017 it was confirmed and became part of The 5 Ocean Garbage Patches
Map By: Rastin
Holandes Cays, Panama
Holandes Cays are sets of islands just inside of Panama's waters that cover the coastal line. The waste that is generated by the surrounding towns is carried by rivers to the ocean and ends up on the banks of these islands. Interestingly, even though these islands are facing towards the Atlantic, some of the waste still ends up in the South Pacific due to the different gyre patterns in the ocean that help carry the waste all the way through South America and back to the Pacific. (J. L. Lavers 2019)
Map By: Rastin
Labuan Bajo, Indonesia
Indonesia is 2nd in the world (Claire Groden, 2015) for a developing country that is responsible for most plastic in the ocean. This is because they have not been able to control the waste that is created due to their rapid industrialization. An estimated 346.6-kilo ton of waste is released into the ocean every year in Indonesia and one of the big contributors to The South Pacific Garbage Patch is Labuan Bajo. Due to the lack of proper waste management and bad human habit, Labuan Bajo has turned into a town surrounded by toxic waste that eventually leads to The South Pacific.
Map By: Rastin
Trash littered on a beach off the Atlantic Ocean (Yoneda 2010)
There are two garbage gyres in the Atlantic ocean. The larger of them is roughly central and northern in between the American SouthWest and Northern Africa. The smaller of the two is Southern, also centrally located in between South Brazil and the Southern African countries. The major contributors to these two gyres come from a few beaches, inlets, and rivers. The Northern gyre covers the distance of roughly Cuba to Virginia, and most of the trash comes in sizes and weights of less than a paperclip (Lovett 2021). These are called micro plastics and they are what are plaguing our world's oceans. More than 200,000 pieces of trash were found in one square kilometer (Lovett 2021).
Delaware River, USA.
Listed below are a few of the thousand major rivers that are polluting our oceans. Delaware river; contributes 128,600 kg of waste into the Delaware bay a year.
Map By: Jackson
Laguna Pajaritos, Mexico
164,000 kg comes from Laguna Pajaritos in Coatzacoalcos.
Grijalva River, Mexico
113,600 kg from the Grijalva river in the Mexican city of Frontera.
Image: (Baker 1970)
Haulover Creek, Belize
In the city of Belize the Haulover Creek contributes 112,000 kg a year.
Rio Dulce, Guatemala
The Rio Dulce river of Guatemala pollutes a staggering 400,000 kg of waste a year.
Chamelecon River, Honduras
In Honduras the Chamelecon River pollutes 531,000 kg into the Caribbean sea
Jamaica
There are three major polluters on the island of Jamaica adding up to a total of 936,700 kg.
Dominican Republic and Haiti
The Dominican Republic and Haiti contribute roughly over 8,000,000 kg of waste into the Caribbean sea a year and subsequently into the Northern Atlantic Ocean.
Conakry, Guinea
The city of Conakry pollutes just under 1,000,000 kg into the North Atlantic from unnamed rivers.
Sierra Leone
The country of Sierra Leone could be one of the greatest contributors to the North Atlantic garbage gyre with a staggering 2,000,000 kg of trash polluted a year
Vidri Canal, Ivory Coast
The rivers running into the Vidri Canal pollute 3,300,000 kg into the gulf of guinea and the North and South Atlantic Ocean.
Odaw River, Ghana
The Odaw has about 1,300,000 kg of waste pass into the North and South Atlantic a year.
Lagos
Lagos pollutes more than 4,000,000 kg a year of waste!
Cameroon
Cameroon pollutes the most of any other African country into the South Atlantic Ocean with a mind numbing 19,000,000 kg of waste a year.
Brazil
In the entire country of Brazil the total waste is well over 22,000,000 kg. All of which is circulating in between the North and South Atlantic Ocean.
Riachuelo, Buenos Aires
In Buenos Aires the Riachuelo and surrounding rivers discharge around 3,000,000 kg of waste gets pushed out into the South Atlantic Ocean.
Information: (Ocean Clean Up 2021)
Flags:(Flagpedia 2008)
Map By: Jackson
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