Microplastics could be changing ocean color

A massive collection of trash is floating out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Oh, that's lovely. And it spans an area twice the size of Texas. And now a new study has found all the trash and microplastics are actually changing the color. of the ocean. And when we saw this, we had to reach out to one of the smartest people we know. So joining us for Devo the Science Pro this morning is Dr. Chai-Ming Hu with USF's College of Marine Science, a distinguished professor. Thank you for taking the time to join us, Dr. Hu. My pleasure. So let's start with the obvious. What is this Great Pacific Garbage Patch and how did this come about? Well, this actually refers to a location or a region that is rich in garbage, in plastics. So it does not refer to a continuous, a huge patch, but it refers to a huge area, just like what you said, it's about twice the size of Texas. So in this area, People can find a lot of plastics, such as floating plastic bottles, fishing nets, among others. How did all of this end up in that particular area of the world? Has to do with the ocean currents, right? Yes, it's a convergence zone. So ocean currents, like a swirling movement of ocean water, take this land-based garbage to this location and they converge. They would not. You know what's sad about this, and we'll get into the discoloration or the changing of the color in just a second, but I don't think people realize that about 28.7 billion pounds per year of plastics go into the oceans. And I know, yes, some of it's in that little patch there, and some of it's very small. You can't see microplastics. Where, Doctor Who, where does most of this go? Well, they eventually Yeah, because then you get that bioaccumulation and eventually we end up eating. Absolutely. The fish that have the plastics in them. So talk to me about this study real quick about how there's so much plastic and at least by satellite it's changing the color. How is this happening of the ocean? Okay, so you are talking about a very, so this is a very deep science question. Okay. Can we have enough microplastic particles in the ocean to cause a color change? Okay, so yes, according to this study, so what this study did was two things. Okay, one is the satellite, you know, they use a different satellite, multiple satellites, they detect a color change over the course of 20 years, you know, in a specific location that is very close to the traditional Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Okay, they detect this color change. The second, They did a lot of modeling study to argue this color change is most likely due to microplastics as opposed to other changes. So this is the most compelling analysis that I have seen so far to show, yes, it's likely due to microplastics. But again, these authors are cautious enough. Okay, they caution people, you know, there could be other reasons and there should be more studies to confirm their findings. And when there are, we're bringing you back on my friend. Unfortunately, we have run out of time real quick. I have 1000 more questions. So we're not done with this. But thank you, Dr. Hu, for joining us and just kind of giving us an overview of what's happening out there in the Pacific Ocean. We really do appreciate it. Enjoy your day. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Bye.