The Physics of FLotsam
1: Using the map provided above and the definition of gyre, how many gyres does the Earth have? Use the ocean they are located in to list them.
There are 5 major gyres in the ocean. They are located in the North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian ocean, and 2 in the Atlantic ocean.
2: If one degree of latitude is equivalent to 69.047 statue miles, how many miles across is the central North Pacific Gyre? Using the map, estimate the surface area of the gyre.
The North Pacific Gyre is about 5,520 miles across.
3: If the surface of the California current flows at approximately 1 km per hour, how far will a piece of marine debris move in 1 week?
A piece of debris should move about 169 km in a week.
4: The North Pacific Current is warmer and faster than the california current. It travels at speeds in the hundreds of kilometers per hour. SEAPLEX observers collected bottles written in Korean and Chinese (in addition English). If the bottles floated across the pacific ocean from Asian shores, what is the least amount of time the bottles were in the water? A couple of hours.
5: If the Pacific Ocean is approximately 17,00 km from east to west, how many days would it take the research vessel, New Horizon, traveling at a maximum speed of 10 knots to cross it? (1 knot= 1,852 km per hour.)
It would take close to 40 days for the New Horizon to travel across the Pacific Ocean.
6: If the eastern edge of the Pacific Gyre is located approximately 1000 miles off the coast of California, how long would it take the New Horizon to reach it?
Around 85 hours.
7: On average the New Horizon ship uses 1000 gallons of fuel per day. Do you believe that the amount of fuel it takes to reach the Patch is worth using in order to study the Garbage Patch?
Nope. I believe that there is a better and more convenient way to move material on the new horizon.
8: Some acivities note that plastic collected from the gyre can be recycled and converted into diesel fuel. In the October 2009 issue of Rolling Stone, Captain Charles Morre argues that there is no way the Garbage Patch can be cleaned up because the collection of the small pieces of plastics is impractical, Research these two opinions and list three supporting arguments and counter arguments for each one.
It is true. There are too many small pieces of plastics in the ocean. Some can't even be picked up. And others are found in fishes which causes sea creatures to die. In the contrast, creating the right inventions could be used to pick up these small pieces of plastics even though it may take hundreds, or thousands of years to collect a majority of them. But after they are collected, it can be broken down into diesel fuel.
9: Debris that avoids being pulled into the gyre and continues to circulate around the Pacific Ocean ends up on the shores of beaches. Investigate how much plastics is found on the various shores and how much is estimated to be in the ocean. Which of the two collections of plastics (in the gyre verses on the shore) do you feel should have a greater priority in terms of public policy and why?
We should focus on the north and south gyres because we live near those gyres. Therefore, other continents can handle their own gyres and then the problem could be fixed faster.
10: Research information about the Central North Pacific Gyre over the past 10 years. What information and catch phrases seem to persist throughout your research? Why do you think the media continues to use these phrases and ideas? Has any new information surfaced occur the last year?
"Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" is a common phrase that people tend to use when it comes to the environment. The reasons of this is that people want other people to participate and or contribute in helping the environment to make Earth a satisfying place to live.
There are 5 major gyres in the ocean. They are located in the North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian ocean, and 2 in the Atlantic ocean.
2: If one degree of latitude is equivalent to 69.047 statue miles, how many miles across is the central North Pacific Gyre? Using the map, estimate the surface area of the gyre.
The North Pacific Gyre is about 5,520 miles across.
3: If the surface of the California current flows at approximately 1 km per hour, how far will a piece of marine debris move in 1 week?
A piece of debris should move about 169 km in a week.
4: The North Pacific Current is warmer and faster than the california current. It travels at speeds in the hundreds of kilometers per hour. SEAPLEX observers collected bottles written in Korean and Chinese (in addition English). If the bottles floated across the pacific ocean from Asian shores, what is the least amount of time the bottles were in the water? A couple of hours.
5: If the Pacific Ocean is approximately 17,00 km from east to west, how many days would it take the research vessel, New Horizon, traveling at a maximum speed of 10 knots to cross it? (1 knot= 1,852 km per hour.)
It would take close to 40 days for the New Horizon to travel across the Pacific Ocean.
6: If the eastern edge of the Pacific Gyre is located approximately 1000 miles off the coast of California, how long would it take the New Horizon to reach it?
Around 85 hours.
7: On average the New Horizon ship uses 1000 gallons of fuel per day. Do you believe that the amount of fuel it takes to reach the Patch is worth using in order to study the Garbage Patch?
Nope. I believe that there is a better and more convenient way to move material on the new horizon.
8: Some acivities note that plastic collected from the gyre can be recycled and converted into diesel fuel. In the October 2009 issue of Rolling Stone, Captain Charles Morre argues that there is no way the Garbage Patch can be cleaned up because the collection of the small pieces of plastics is impractical, Research these two opinions and list three supporting arguments and counter arguments for each one.
It is true. There are too many small pieces of plastics in the ocean. Some can't even be picked up. And others are found in fishes which causes sea creatures to die. In the contrast, creating the right inventions could be used to pick up these small pieces of plastics even though it may take hundreds, or thousands of years to collect a majority of them. But after they are collected, it can be broken down into diesel fuel.
9: Debris that avoids being pulled into the gyre and continues to circulate around the Pacific Ocean ends up on the shores of beaches. Investigate how much plastics is found on the various shores and how much is estimated to be in the ocean. Which of the two collections of plastics (in the gyre verses on the shore) do you feel should have a greater priority in terms of public policy and why?
We should focus on the north and south gyres because we live near those gyres. Therefore, other continents can handle their own gyres and then the problem could be fixed faster.
10: Research information about the Central North Pacific Gyre over the past 10 years. What information and catch phrases seem to persist throughout your research? Why do you think the media continues to use these phrases and ideas? Has any new information surfaced occur the last year?
"Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" is a common phrase that people tend to use when it comes to the environment. The reasons of this is that people want other people to participate and or contribute in helping the environment to make Earth a satisfying place to live.
Plastics would be found throughout the Central North Pacific Ocean Gyre. Groups of scientist and volunteers set out to the open ocean to find more data of how human junk effects the lives of animals in the ocean. These people only had 20 days to gather information on the New Horizon, or the ship they were on.
There as over 100 consecutive surface waters that contained 1 cm of plastic particles and was collected within 1200 miles of the gyre. Other items like toothbrushes, ghost nets, hard hats, shoes, and many other things were found and collected for research.
Scientists were afraid that there was more plastics that lay beneath the ocean, or beneath the surface water. Some of the plastics would get caught in waves and head toward land, in some which humans tend to step on. The problem is that plastic is not biodegradable, which means it can be broken down. The sun may be the cause of why small plastics are broken into smaller pieces, then are either separated or moves as one.
Fishes and birds that eat these plastics don't know that it isn't plastic. But they think it is small creatures that is eatable. As a result, these animals choke, and die horribly. Therefore, we are killing innocent animals that could fill our stomach, rather than die in the open ocean.
Vocabulary:
Marine debris: any persistent material that is intentionally or unintentionally left abandoned in oceans. Flotsam is the traditional term for marine debris.
Gyre: A major, slowly rotating mass of ocean water bounded by faster, circulating water currents; vortex. There are five major gyres in our world ocean: two each in the Pacific and the Atlantic, and one in the Indian Ocean. They flow clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
Currents: The flow of water in a specific direction. It can be a portion of a larger body of water, such as the California Current. The California Current is the eastern boundary of the Central North Pacific Gyre. It flows from north to south along North America and joins the Equatorial Current to flow west near the equator.
Physical oceanographer: Someone that studies the physical properties of the ocean like currents and waves and how they affect the atmosphere and other aspects of the environment.
Marine Biologist: Someone that studies the flora and fauna of the oceans.
Stature mile: A term used for a standard land-based mile, as opposed to a nautical ocean-based mile.
There as over 100 consecutive surface waters that contained 1 cm of plastic particles and was collected within 1200 miles of the gyre. Other items like toothbrushes, ghost nets, hard hats, shoes, and many other things were found and collected for research.
Scientists were afraid that there was more plastics that lay beneath the ocean, or beneath the surface water. Some of the plastics would get caught in waves and head toward land, in some which humans tend to step on. The problem is that plastic is not biodegradable, which means it can be broken down. The sun may be the cause of why small plastics are broken into smaller pieces, then are either separated or moves as one.
Fishes and birds that eat these plastics don't know that it isn't plastic. But they think it is small creatures that is eatable. As a result, these animals choke, and die horribly. Therefore, we are killing innocent animals that could fill our stomach, rather than die in the open ocean.
Vocabulary:
Marine debris: any persistent material that is intentionally or unintentionally left abandoned in oceans. Flotsam is the traditional term for marine debris.
Gyre: A major, slowly rotating mass of ocean water bounded by faster, circulating water currents; vortex. There are five major gyres in our world ocean: two each in the Pacific and the Atlantic, and one in the Indian Ocean. They flow clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
Currents: The flow of water in a specific direction. It can be a portion of a larger body of water, such as the California Current. The California Current is the eastern boundary of the Central North Pacific Gyre. It flows from north to south along North America and joins the Equatorial Current to flow west near the equator.
Physical oceanographer: Someone that studies the physical properties of the ocean like currents and waves and how they affect the atmosphere and other aspects of the environment.
Marine Biologist: Someone that studies the flora and fauna of the oceans.
Stature mile: A term used for a standard land-based mile, as opposed to a nautical ocean-based mile.