"Garbage Belt” Emerging in the North Pacific 1999.10.15

A group led by Professor Hisamasa Kubota of Tokai University's Department of Oceanography has discovered, through analysis using satellite data, the emergence of a huge garbage accumulation belt in the mid-latitude waters of the North Pacific Ocean. No matter where in the North Pacific garbage is dumped, high-latitude garbage moves in a southeasterly direction, while garbage near the equator moves in a northwesterly direction. Within a few months, they say, they will be concentrated in the 20-40 degree north latitude zone, and a belt of about 1,000 kilometers in width will appear, crossing the Pacific Ocean from east to west.