Why can’t I see the debris in the North Pacific Gyre on Google Earth?
The vast majority of the debris is tiny, hard-to-see pieces. The debris is like a thin soup, with some big pieces like nets and bottles intermixed. It looks like this. We did not observe an island or floating landfill. Our photos are representative of what we saw – larger pieces floating by every minute or so, with the space between filled up with tiny, nearly microscopic bits. For a more in-depth explanation of why the debris does not appear on Google Earth, see here.
