earth science

South Pacific garbage patch

South Pacific garbage patch is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand South Pacific garbage patch rather than just read about it. In short: The South Pacific garbage patch is an area of ocean with increased levels of marine debris and plastic particle pollution, within the ocean's pelagic zone. This area is in the South Pacific Gyre, which itself spans from waters east of Australia to the South American continent, as far north as the Equator, and south until reaching the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

Key takeaways

South Pacific garbage patch belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect South Pacific garbage patch to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of South Pacific garbage patch from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The South Pacific garbage patch is an area of ocean with increased levels of marine debris and plastic particle pollution, within the ocean's pelagic zone. This area is in the South Pacific Gyre, which itself spans from waters east of Australia to the South American continent, as far north as the Equator, and south until reaching the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The degradation of plastics in the ocean also leads to a rise in the level of toxics in the area. The garbage patch was confirmed in mid-2017, and has been compared to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch's state in 2007, making the former ten years younger. The South Pacific garbage patch is not visible on satellites, and is not a landmass. Most particles are smaller than a grain of rice. A researcher said: "This cloud of microplastics extends both vertically and horizontally. It's more like smog than a patch".

Discovery Evidence pointing to the existence of a garbage patch in the South Pacific gyre was made in early 2011 and its existence was confirmed in mid-2017. The discovery was made after a research voyage made by the 5 Gyres Institute. The voyage ran from March to April 2011, following a route based on a model of ocean currents developed by Nikolia Maximenko of the University of Hawaii, which predicts floating debris accumulation zones. The expedition started taking samples off the coast of Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile, and began working its way west, collecting new samples every 50 nautical miles, reaching the waters off Easter Island, and eventually Pitcairn Island. A second water sampling voyage departing from Long Beach, California on November 2, 2016, lasting six months, was led by Charles J. Moore, and a team of researchers from Algalita Marine Research and Education. Upon departure the vessel began its journey south along the Baja California peninsula and on to the Galapagos Islands, continuing southwest on to Easter Island. After departing Easter Island the crew then headed eastward to the Juan Fernandez Islands, after which it continued north following the coast of Chile, with stopping points at Antofagasta, Chile, and Arica, Chile, before heading further out to sea for its return journey to Long Beach.

Composition, concentration and size During the 5 Gyres expedition, 48 samples were taken from a 2,424 nautical sweep. The researchers found an increase in plastic pollution density, averaging 26,898 particles per square kilometer, but spiking at up to 396,342 particles per square kilometer, peaking near the center of the predicted accumulation zone, with some estimates as high as one million particles per square kilometer. The composition of the garbage patch consists mainly of microbeads, tiny abrasives less than 5 micrometers in size usually found in certain personal hygiene products, microscopic fibers from washing clothes, fishing debris from southern hemisphere fishermen, and microscopic fragments of larger pieces which have been broken down in the ocean. The elevated levels of pollutants can be detected over a vast area estimated to be 2.6 million square kilometers (one million square miles), or about 1.5 times the size of Texas, with the debris found along a nearly 2,500 nautical mile straight line route.

Effects on marine life and the ocean

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with South Pacific garbage patch

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what South Pacific garbage patch claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to South Pacific garbage patch before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about South Pacific garbage patch ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of South Pacific garbage patch

In research: South Pacific garbage patch appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses South Pacific garbage patch in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: South Pacific garbage patch is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Marine garbage patches, Pacific Ocean, Plastics and the environment, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for South Pacific garbage patch outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study South Pacific garbage patch in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what South Pacific garbage patch means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain South Pacific garbage patch out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is South Pacific garbage patch in simple terms?

Why does South Pacific garbage patch matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study South Pacific garbage patch?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on South Pacific garbage patch.