Adventurers sail through wave of tsunami debris Team track tsunami debris from Japan’s disaster to gain insight into how plastic pollution travels across the world’s oceans The floating dock from Japan that has washed up on a beach in Oregon, US. Photograph: Reuters/Oregon parks department The Pacific Ocean is a […]
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Midway Atoll, Midnight Philosophy, and A Plastic Buffet For Albatrosses.
We’re just west of Midway Atoll and we’ve found the sun, thankfully. Sea Dragon is dried out, but we’re under provisioned and almost entirely out of vegetables (even canned) and the watermaker is acting up (again) and so the crew isn’t allowed fresh water showers. We have 1500 liters of […]
Read MoreFeeling Low 1005, a Gale, and The Synthetic Specter on Deck
Well, at least we’re consistent on this voyage. We’re like a magnet for crap weather out here and once again have found ourselves stuck in a low pressure system that’s spewing big winds, drenching us in torrential downpours and making my eyes glue to the barometer for any signs of […]
Read MoreBird In The Hand And A Brief Respite
Day four out and we’re still soaked. The wind has finally subsided to a manageable 15-20 knots,at times we’re even nearly becalmed. But last night we had 30 knots plus, sometimes close to 40 which made for several sail changes through the night. Reef 3, Reef 1, Stay sail down, […]
Read MoreChasing A Tsunami, Following a Typhoon, It’s On Baby.
Our expeditions are kind of like summer camp for plastic nerds. Yes, we have real research to conduct, but that doesn’t make us any less nerdy. And if there is one thing all the partners who brought this voyage to life, Algalita, 5 Gyres, and Pangaea Explorations are at heart, […]
Read MoreMeet the Crew–Leg 2 Asia Pacific Expedition
Marcus Eriksen – Research Expedition Leader Marcus Eriksen received his Ph.D. in Science Education from University of Southern California in 2003, months before embarking on a 2000-mile, 5-month journey down the Mississippi River on a homemade raft. His experience on the river led to a career studying the ecological impacts […]
Read More“There’s an Masked Booby sitting on top of it,” Cynthia says
25.13N, 153.56E May 14th The New Reef “Net ball!” Hank yelled. It turns out to be a 500lb ball of netting, rope and line from over 80 sources, all different, and fragments of commercial products, including 3 toothbushes, 1 cigarette lighter and two plastic straws. The bulk of these, and […]
Read MoreUpdate from the Sea Dragon’s crew-What does a garbage patch look like?
Today the Expedition crew encountered some big plastic garbage northwest of the the Marshalls (click here to see the position of where it was found– zoom out to get landmass context) These pictures just came through on email from our team at sea just a few moments ago (15:04 PST) […]
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