Study of North Pacific 'garbage patch' shows abundance of neuston organisms

Bob Yirka is a writer for Phys.org.

A team of researchers from the U.K. and the U.S. found that the North Pacific has an abundance of neuston organisms. In their paper posted on the bioRxiv site, the group describes their study of material in the patch of sea and what types of creatures they found.

There is an abundance of neuston in the Subtropical North Atlantic Gyre, which forms the Sargasso Sea, due to the huge amount of human garbage that has accumulated there. Neuston is a term that refers to floating lifeforms on the sea surface, and a gyre is a spiral or vortex, where water turns like clouds in a storm. Neuston and garbage coalesce in the spinning because material at the outer edge is pulled toward the center. The researchers wondered if there were similar numbers of neuston in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, which has become known as the North Pacific garbage patch due to the large amount of human garbage floating in its center.

The work done by the team was called the Vortex Swim and lasted for 80 days. The route taken by the I Am Ocean sailing vessel was plotted using a numerical drift model, which the team wanted to see what types of creatures were living in the densest parts of the garbage patch. A device was dragged behind the ship as it sailed to capture living creatures. The team attached a mechanical flowmeter to the trawl to measure the volume of water in which the specimen was found.

The team collected 22 samples, 12 from inside the central gyre and 10 from outside. Garbage and Specimens were counted. The researchers found that large numbers of neuston were concentrated near the center of the NP GP. The concentrations of neuston were the same as the garbage.

More information: Fiona Chong et al, High Concentrations of floating life in the North Pacific Garbage Patch, bioRxiv (2022). DOI: 10.1101/2022.04.26.489631

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