Tracking down the origins of ocean garbage patches

Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia have developed a model that could reveal who is to blame for litter in the floating garbage patches in the world’s oceans. There are at least five garbage patches, each located in the centre of large ocean currents called gyres.
In some cases, you can have a country far away from a garbage patch that’s unexpectedly contributing directly to the patch. For example, the ocean debris from Madagascar and Mozambique would most likely flow into the south Atlantic, even though the two countries’ coastlines border the Indian Ocean. An article about the research is published in Chaos (News Release UNSW, 3 September 2014).
Click here for the news release.
Click here for the published article (3.22 MB).

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