Litter survey detects the South Atlantic 'garbage patch'

Marine Pollution Bulletin
Peter G Ryan

Abstract

A distance-based technique was used to assess the distribution and abundance of floating marine debris (>1cm) in the southeast Atlantic Ocean between Cape Town and Tristan da Cunha, crossing the southern edge of the South Atlantic 'garbage patch' predicted by surface drift models. Most litter was made of plastic (97%). Detection distances were influenced by the size and buoyancy of litter items. Litter density decreased from coastal waters off Cape Town (>100 items km(-2)) to oceanic waters (<10 items km(-2)), and was consistently higher (6.2 ± 1.3 items km(-2)) from 3 to 8°E than in adjacent oceanic waters (2.7 ± 0.3 items km(-2)) or in the central South Atlantic around Tristan (1.0 ± 0.4 items km(-2)). The area with high litter density had few seaweeds, suggesting that most litter had been drifting for a long time. The results indicate that floating debris is accumulating in the South Atlantic gyre as far south as 34-35°S.

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Citations

Jan 25, 2016·Environmental Pollution·Francesca M C Fazey, Peter G Ryan
Feb 2, 2016·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Peter G RyanMarthán N Bester
May 20, 2015·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Sebastián JiménezRichard A Phillips
Dec 3, 2014·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Peter G RyanAriella Rink
Jul 9, 2016·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Francesca M C Fazey, Peter G Ryan
Jul 14, 2016·Marine Environmental Research·Inga V KirsteinGunnar Gerdts
May 23, 2015·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Diego Miranda-UrbinaGuillermo Luna-Jorquera
Sep 3, 2016·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Sabine RechEva García-Vazquez
Apr 26, 2017·Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management·Carina VersterHindrik Bouwman
Apr 23, 2017·Marine Pollution Bulletin·D C TavaresS Siciliano
Mar 7, 2020·International Journal of Molecular Sciences·Yung-Li WangHui-Wen Chiu
Nov 13, 2018·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Eleonora StaffieriCorrado Battisti
Aug 9, 2020·Philosophical Transactions. Series A, Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences·Julyan H E Cartwright, Oreste Piro
Jan 1, 2014·Environmental Sciences Europe·Martin WagnerGeorg Reifferscheid
Nov 8, 2020·Environmental Pollution·Luisa Galgani, Steven A Loiselle
Jan 21, 2019·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Takunda Y Chitaka, Harro von Blottnitz
Aug 17, 2020·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Nelson Rangel-BuitragoRoberto Agredano
Nov 21, 2019·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Irene PapachristopoulouGeorge Papatheodorou
Nov 19, 2020·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Chiara SchmidElena Zambello
Mar 5, 2021·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Alain Alves PóvoaFábio Vieira de Araújo
Apr 26, 2017·The Science of the Total Environment·Catherine L WallerKevin A Hughes
Feb 25, 2018·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Ana-Maria ResmerițăPatrick Navard
Aug 14, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Odei Garcia-GarinLuis Cardona
Jun 12, 2021·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Maëlle ConnanPeter G Ryan
Aug 6, 2021·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Rayane R S AbudeTatiana M B Cabrini

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