+
upworthy

great pacific garbage patch

Science

A giant garbage patch floating in the ocean has become home to hundreds of sea creatures

Multiple species of marine life have been discovered surviving on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that floats between California and Hawaii.

Image via Unsplash

Plastic floating in the ocean

“Life finds a way” might be a line from a movie, but it’s the perfect way to describe the very real resilience of nature.

Take for example an enormous 620,000 square mile build-up of trash floating in the ocean between California and Hawaii, which has miraculously become a floating home to a myriad of sea creatures, otherwise known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Swirling ocean currents called gyres act as whirlpools sucking in piles and piles of litter into condensed areas, and the debris collects in patches in the center of the gyre. Though there are five of these garbage patches across the globe, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—made of trash from countries in Asia and North and South America—contains the most plastic, according to USA Today.
Keep ReadingShow less