What are parts of the Pacific Gyre now known as?
G. M. Vinogradov1 (1) A. N. Severtzov Institute of Animal Evolutionary Morphology and Ecology, Lenin Avenue 33, 117071 Moscow, USSR Accepted: 9 January 1991 Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe Abstract Studies were made of Amphipoda Hyperiidea collected in 1987 with a pelagic trawl in the South Pacific anticyclonic gyre in the vicinity of the Nazca and Sala y Gómez ridges (17°35prime to 26°01primeS, 80°10prime to 100°50primeW), at depths ranging from 50 to 300 or 600 m. Forty-three hauls contained 7 198 specimens, comprised of 119 species within 43 genera. Two of the species appeared to be new for science; two others were found in the Pacific Ocean for the first time. A comparison with hyperiid collections from other tropical Pacific regions revealed great stability of oceanic faunal composion. However, the collections differed considerably in their dominant species. Furthermore, comparison of Hyperiidea from various parts within the investigated area of the South Pacific gyre als
Chris Jordan, the artist from Seattle, has come out with mind wrenching pictures from the Pacific Gyre or the Great Pacific garbage patch. The gyre, is amidst spiraling currents and measures twice of what US does (in size). The garbage patch, is not filled up with garbage, but it is famous for the waste and other debris that has accumulated over the years. This waste products get accumulated due to the clockwise currents traveling between Japan and N.America. Jordan is known for taking gut-wrenching photographs and his famous works include, Portraits of Loss from an Unnatural Disaster, intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption, and Running The Numbers. His photographs are taken from the garbage dumps and also depicts USA consumerism. His work, although bold is also said to be quite “unsettling”. The photos he brought back from The Gyre, shows the carcasses of dead albatross chicks, whose cause of death remains the ingestion of garbage disposed by humans. Their bellies
For Mary Crowley, the sea is her second home. She learned how to sail at age 4 and spent almost half her life running an international yacht chartering business in Sausalito, California. But about two years ago, Crowley dove into a new project: helping to clean up the world’s oceans. She set sail on a monthlong voyage into the North Pacific Gyre, parts of which are known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The gyre, or area of spiraling ocean currents, is approximately twice the size of the continental United States. It isn’t filled with garbage, but the region is known for accumulating large amounts of waste and debris that get trapped by its large clockwise currents between North America and Japan. “I’ve been out to the same part of the ocean 30 years ago, and then, it was clean oceanic wilderness. And now, it’s like a dump,” Crowley said. “This is significantly worse.” Sources: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/10
