Originally Posted by
oceanconservancy.org
Myth: The Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of Texas.
Fact: It is impossible to measure the exact size of a gyre because it is a fluid system that moves constantly. But the fact remains that huge amounts of man-made debris accumulate there.
Myth: The Pacific Garbage Patch is like a big island of floating trash.
Fact: No vast island or blanket of garbage is visible in the North Pacific in aerial photographs or satellite images; the accumulation of trash here is like a chunky soup rather than a solid island of garbage you could walk across. Varying concentrations of debris occur in different places at different times; there are at least three separate spots in the North Pacific where currents cause large accumulations of trash. While rubber rain boots, toothbrushes, and food containers can be seen, much of the debris has been broken down by wind, sun, and wave action into tiny pieces that are harder to see, many of them plastic. Scientists skimming the water with fine mesh nets have discovered that in some parts of the Garbage Patch, while tiny marine life called plankton is still more abundant than plastic fragments in terms of numbers, plastic outweighs plankton six to one.
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