MOUNTAIN VIEW — Turns out the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is much greater than initially believed.
That conclusion is based on the preliminary results of the first-ever aerial survey of the diffuse mass of plastic debris swirling in the waters halfway between California and Hawaii.
On Sunday, a C-130 chartered by The Ocean Cleanup lifted off from Moffett Field and flew 2½ hours along the northern boundary of the patch. Experimental scanning equipment and a team of spotters detected more than 1,000 large objects, including tarps and discarded fishing nets, said Boyan Slat, the Dutch foundation’s 22-year-old CEO.
“What we found there was a concentration higher than what we thought we would find in the center of the patch,” Slat said. “These initial findings suggest that there is a lot more than we thought.”
A second flight is scheduled to take place Thursday.
The aerial surveys follow the foundation’s 2015 Mega Expedition, which involved 30 seagoing vessels and focused on objects ranging in size from 5 millimeters to 2 feet. Slat said it took the C-130 just five minutes to cover the area the expedition did in a month.
The results of both efforts will be combined to form a comprehensive picture of the problem, Slat said. From there, The Ocean Cleanup aims to develop systems to scour debris from the seas, including booms that utilize currents and act as artificial coastlines.
“It will influence the design of the system,” Slat said. “For example, now that we see a lot of nets, it will be pretty important that the barrier is very smooth so that we don’t get any entanglements.”
Slat said the foundation expects to release updated figures on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch before the end of the year, then test out one of its systems in early 2017.
In 2014, the United Nations reported that 10 to 20 millions tons of plastic ends up in the world’s oceans every year, accumulating in gyres to form enormous debris fields like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which Slat said now covers 1.6 million square miles.
The debris causes $13 billion in damage to marine ecosystems annually, according to the UN report. Slat said it also threatens the existence of roughly 100 species and acts as a sponge for harmful chemicals, which can end up in the food chain and on dinner plates.
“It’s acting like a toxic pill,” he said.
With the concentration much higher than first thought, the cost and time to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch remain moving targets. But, Slat is confident it can be completed within 10 years.
The Ocean Cleanup, which is funded by corporate sponsorships and donations, is unique in its mission, Slat said, but he hopes other entities will be inspired to join forces.
The 22-year-old pointed to a 2013 diving trip in Greece as his motivation for launching the foundation.
“I realized there was more plastic than fish,” Slat said, “and I thought, ‘Well, why aren’t we cleaning this up?'”
