Currents and Gyres
How do Currents and Gyres Impact Ocean Pollution?
Ocean currents and gyres that contribute to ocean pollution, especially plastic pollution, are the reason why trash is found in the middle of Earth’s oceans. These powerful currents create seaways along which garbage and plastics are drawn to the middle and bottom and create vast areas of the ocean that are now known as garbage patches.
The term “garbage patch” is used to describe large concentrations of marine debris in the ocean, most specifically the North Pacific Ocean.
"A gyre is a slowly moving spiral of currents created by a high pressure system of air currents. A spinning soup, so to speak, is made of what exists in the water. And in this case, the gyres are spinning with millions of tons of our discarded and forgotten about plastic waste!"
-Brandon Boyd