- "Is plastic pollution accumulating in the 5 major oceanic gyres?"
- "Knowing that some plastics float and sink, and that ocean waters move, how is plastic pollution distributed around the world vertically, horizontally and seasonally?"
- "Knowing that plastic pollution photodegrades, chemically degrades, and mechanically breaks into smaller fragments, where do the smallest particles eventually go?"
- "Knowing that plastic pollution can be a sponge for many hydrophobic pollutants, do these pollutants desorb, and bioaccumulate inside fish that ingest plastic pollution?"
See Global Research
Collecting research from the worlds oceans.
"Plastics are the lubricant of globalization" ~Captain Charles Moore
Ocean currents carry floating debris into the 5 subtropical gyres. This computer model uses drifter buoy data to predict the accumulation zones in the 5 gyres.
Learn more read:
"Tracking Ocean Debris"
The research we are doing
The 5 Gyres team collects samples of the oceans surface to quantity the mass, size, color and type of plastic pollution floating in the gyres. We are also collecting fish to study the ingestion of microplastic particles.
See our master timeline
“What is the abundance of plastic pollution in the 5 Subtropical Gyres”
We will use a manta trawl to collect 50 surface samples from each of the North and South Atlantic gyres. The trawl, towed behind the vessel at 2.5-3.5 knots, will collect surface debris greater than 333 microns. These samples will be sorted by the AMRF lab into size and type of plastic. Finally we will measure the total weight of plastic pollution compared to the area and volume of the sea we sampled.
“Are surface foraging fish in the Sargasso Sea ingesting micro-plastic particles?”
Foraging nocturnal fish caught during the North and South Atlantic will be preserved until we can dissect them in the AMRF lab. Stomach contents will be sorted and weighed. Tissue samples will be preserved for future analysis for persistent organic pollutants.
