5 Gyres - Understanding Plastic Pollution Through Exploration, Education, and Action

The latest from Marcus on the Sea Dragon "those of us on land are always thrilled to get news. Despite almost half the crew flattened by seasickness, it sounds like the mission is well underway... "

Christo stands with arms open wide, city lights spread through the valleys and surrounding the coast, and jets soaring over our head as we sail across the end of the runway.  I don't know what Rio de Janiero was like 300 years ago, but it was nothing like this.  Charles Darwin reported a large breeding population in the bay when he came here aboard the Beagle.  Aboard the Sea Dragon there are no such sightings.  The foul smell of raw sewage in the marina is behind us.  A full moon pulls us to sea.



The EEZ is the Exclusive Economic Zone that creates a 200-mile boundary from the Brazilian coast that is off limits to our research.  We cannot test CO2 in the water, collect fish or trawl for plastic debris.  And that's all right by me and most of the crew that takes turn pouring their stomachs into the sea.  20-25 knot winds keeps Clive and Dale, the Skipper and First Mate on their toes, and the rest of us on our backs.  At mile 217 east of Rio we throw in the trawl.

1.5 hours later we pull up the first scientific trawl for plastic in the South Atlantic Subtropical Gyre.  Among Man-o-war jellyfish, and zooplankton, there's a confetti of plastic.  It's the same thing we've seen in the North Pacific, North Atlantic, and Indian Ocean.  Gyres collect waste, and the 5 subtropical gyres have the highest concentrations.  During the next 12 days we'll sample during the day and night to get an idea of the spatial distribution of plastic waste here.  The predicted accumulation zone is south of our present location, but we'll skim the top of the gyre and then head north to Ascension Island.

Ascension Island should be an interesting oasis, sitting in between Africa and South America.  It receives currents coming out of the east rising up from the African coast.  Bucky McMahon, GQ journalist, adventurer, author and diver, introduced me to the concept of "Coastering".  It's a simple idea, find an island and walk the coast until you're back where you started.  Ascension Island is roughly 7 miles in diameter, so it will be a 25 mile, 2-day hike.  I hope we can pull it off.  I definitely want to see what's washed ashore.