There is a lot of plastic trash floating in the Pacific Ocean, but claims that the "œGreat Garbage Patch" between California and Japan is twice the size of Texas are grossly exaggerated, according to an analysis by an Oregon State University scientist.
Further claims that the oceans are filled with more plastic than plankton, and that the patch has been growing tenfold each decade since the 1950s are equally misleading, pointed out Angelicque "œAngel" White, an assistant professor of oceanography at Oregon State.
"œWe have data that allow us to make reasonable estimates; we don't need the hyperbole. Given the observed concentration of plastic in the North Pacific, it is simply inaccurate to state that plastic outweighs plankton, or that we have observed an exponential increase in plastic."
"œThe amount of plastic out there isn't trivial," White said. "œBut using the highest concentrations ever reported by scientists produces a patch that is a small fraction of the state of Texas, not twice the size."
Another way to look at it, White said, is to compare the amount of plastic found to the amount of water in which it was found. "œIf we were to filter the surface area of the ocean equivalent to a football field in waters having the highest concentration (of plastic) ever recorded," she said, "œthe amount of plastic recovered would not even extend to the 1-inch line."
One recent claim that the garbage patch is as deep as the Golden Gate Bridge is tall is completely unfounded, she said.
"œMost plastics either sink or float," White pointed out. "œPlastic isn't likely to be evenly distributed through the top 100 feet of the water column."
