Today, September 7, Oceanographic Research Vessel Alguita is scheduled to depart on a 10 year retrospective voyage to study plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean! This voyage from Hawaii to California will include an opportunity for the research team to re-sample the original 1999 plastic debris sampling locations. This 10-year time span will provide further information about the rate of growth and seasonal changes in plastic density in this remote region of the North Pacific Ocean. The data from the 1999 trip will be significantly strengthened by a summer sampling of the same transects during this ten year anniversary of the Algalita Marine Research Foundations first research voyage to the 'garbage patch'. The levels of plastic can then be compared to the levels found ten years ago, and related to our model predictions, allowing for a determination of growth during that period.
To learn more about how the ORV Alguita research team studies plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean visit the link below!
http://algalita.org/Maps_Home.html
To learn more about the research crew and how they got involved in working aboard and Oceanographic Research Vessel visit this link:
http://orvalguita.googlepages.com/meetthecrew!
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