Tuesday, June 8, 2010

**Update to Science Café Topic: Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch**

Happening Now: SEA expedition sails June 10th, 2010 to the Atlantic Ocean plastic debris field!

Sea Education Association's (SEA) June 10th cruise is the first federally-funded research expedition dedicated solely to examining the accumulation of plastic debris in the North Atlantic Ocean. Plastics at SEA: North Atlantic Expedition from June 10 to July 17, 2010 will expand upon 25 years’ worth of data previously collected by SEA that reveals a region of extensive plastic pollution in a narrow latitude band in the western North Atlantic Ocean. With a diverse and multi-disciplinary crew made up of college seniors, professional mariners, corporate executives, scientists, musicians and most crew members are SEA Semester alumni.

This trip will explore an area southeast of Bermuda that is believed to be an extension of that plastic debris field. It is perhaps the Atlantic Ocean’s version of the region of the eastern North Pacific Ocean dubbed the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”

For more details or to follow the expedition and posting of scientific information collected, visit http://www.sea.edu/plastics/index.htm