2010 North Atlantic Gyre (Sargasso Sea) Expedition
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North Atlantic - US Virgin Islands to Bermuda January 7 - 18, 2010
North Atlantic - Bermuda to Azores
January 27 - February 13, 2010
Going to See Marine Debris in the Sea
The Sargasso Sea is an elongated region in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by ocean currents. On the west it is bounded by the Gulf Stream. On the north, by the North Atlantic Current; on the east, by the Canary Current; and on the south, by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current. This system of currents forms the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. The Sargasso stretches roughly 700 statute miles wide and 2,000 statute miles long (1,100 km wide and
Floating sargassum mats and debris.
3,200 km long). Bermuda is near the western fringes of the sea. The Sargasso Sea is the only "sea" without shores.
In 1971, while sampling for aquatic plants in the Sargasso Sea, Edward Carpenter observed plastic marine debris. In a systematic fashion he conducted 11 surface trawls, which averaged 3,500 pieces of plastic per square kilometer and weighed 290 grams. In 1974, John Colton replicated Carpenter’s study, but increase the number of trawls and range of sampling, conducting 305 trawls from Cape Cod to the Caribbean. Though the number and weight of plastic per square kilometer varied widely, Colton confirmed that plastic marine debris could be found throughout the North Western Atlantic Ocean. There has not been another study of plastic marine debris in this area in over three and a half decades.
The 5 Gyres project, a partnership of Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF) and Livable Legacy, in association with Pangaea Exploration, and in cooperation with the University of California at Irvine and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington has traveled to the Sargasso Sea in order to understand the impact of plastic marine debris there, compare two different gyres, and establish baseline data for future monitoring.
The objectives of their North Atlantic Gyre (Sargasso Sea) research are:
- Revisit sites collected by Carpenter and Colton 35 years ago in order to identify any changes in the content of plastic marine debris.
- Marine debris surface sampling
- Sediment studies in the Sargasso Sea
- Fish ingestion studies
- Process all data and prepare manuscript for publication
More about Algalita and 5 Gyres >>
Debris pulled from the sargassum of the Sargasso Sea region of the Atlantic Ocean.
