High waste concentration in Atlantic Ocean waters

2010/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

A group of scientists from the U.S. Marine Education Organization (SEA) have discovered an environment in the north of the Atlantic Ocean where garbage accumulates at high concentration.

The researchers conducted more than 6,100 arrastes on the American coast between the Caribbean and the North Atlantic. And they observed the abundance of waste on the surface of the water, especially small fragments of plastic. However, an area in the north was the one that most attracted the attention of the researchers due to the high concentration of waste. This area has 200,000 pieces of waste per square kilometer. According to researchers, this area is comparable to the large garbage patch previously known in the Pacific.