Pulau sampah Pasifik Besar

Pulau sampah Pasifik Besar atau arus sampah Pasifik adalah perputaran partikel sampah laut di tengah Samudra Pasifik Utara yang ditemukan antara tahun 1985 dan 1988. Pulau sampah ini terletak di antara garis bujur 135°W hingga 155°W dan lintang 35°N hingga 42°N.^[1] Batas sebaran sampah tidak bisa dipastikan dan tergantung pada kandungan plastik yang digunakan untuk mengukur lokasinya.

Peningkatan kandungan partikel plastik terjadi di Girus Pasifik Utara, satu dari lima girus samudra utama dunia.

Visualisasi pulau sampah samudra.

Ciri-ciri pulau ini adalah tingginya kandungan plastik, limbah kimia, dan serpihan pelagik lain yang terjebak oleh arus Girus Pasifik Utara.^[2] Kepadatannya yang rendah (4 partikel per meter kubik) membuat pulau ini sulit dideteksi lewat citra satelit atau bahkan nelayan atau penyelam di sana. Pulau sampah ini terdiri atas partikel-partikel mengambang, biasanya berukuran sangat kecil (mikroskopik), di kolom air atas yang pelan-pelan bertambah jumlahnya.

Penemuan

Pulau ini terbentuk di girus Zona Konvergensi Subtropis Pasifik Utara

Pulau sampah Pasifik Besar dijelaskan di dalam artikel penelitian tahun 1988 oleh National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Amerika Serikat. Penjelasan ini diterbitkan berdasarkan hasil penelitian beberapa ilmuwan di Alaska tahun 1988 yang mengukur plastik neustonik di Samudra Pasifik Utara.^[3] Para peneliti menemukan konsentrasi sampah laut yang relatif tinggi di perairan berarus samudra. Dengan mengamati temuan di Laut Jepang, mereka berhipotesis bahwa kondisi serupa dapat ditemukan di perairan Pasifik lain yang arus-arusnya menciptakan perairan stabil. Mereka secara spesifik menyebut Girus Pasifik Utara.^[4]

Sepulang dari Transpacific Yacht Race tahun 1997 lewat Girus Pasifik Utara, Charles J. Moore mengklaim melihat sampah terapung yang sangat banyak. Moore memberitahu oseanografer Curtis Ebbesmeyer. Ebbesmeyer menjuluki perairan ini "Pulau Sampah Timur" (Eastern Garbage Patch/EGP).^[5] Media massa sering menjadikan perairan ini sebagai bukti polusi laut.^[6]

Pulau ini sendiri tidak mudah dilihat karena terdiri atas serpihan kecil yang hampir tidak kasatmata.^[7] Sebagian besar sampah mengambang di bawah permukaan laut.^[8] Menurut sebuah penelitian, kepadatan pulau ini cukup rendah, yaitu 5,1 kilogram per kilometer persegi laut (5,1 kg/km²).^[9]

Pulau sampah plastik serupa juga ditemukan di Samudra Atlantik dan diberi nama pulau sampah Atlantik Utara.^[10][11]

Lihat pula

• Ekosistem Girus Subtropis Pasifik Utara
• Sampah laut
• Pulau sampah Atlantik Utara
• Pulau sampah Pasifik Selatan
• Pulau sampah Samudra Hindia
• Polusi plastik
• Polusi bijih plastik
• Plastisfer

Referensi

1. See the relevant sections below for specific references concerning the discovery and history of the patch. A general overview is provided in Dautel, Susan L. "Transoceanic Trash: International and United States Strategies for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch", 3 Golden Gate U. Envtl. L.J. 181 (2009)
2. For this and what follows, see Moore (2004) and Moore (2009), which includes photographs taken from the patch,
3. Day, Robert H.; Shaw, David G.; Ignell, Steven E. (1988). "Quantitative distribution and characteristics of neustonic plastic in the North Pacific Ocean. Final Report to US Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service, Auke Bay Laboratory. Auke Bay, AK" (PDF). hlm. 247–266.
4. "After entering the ocean, however, neuston plastic is redistributed by currents and winds. For example, plastic entering the ocean in Japan is moved eastward by the Subarctic Current (in Subarctic Water) and the Kuroshio (in Transitional Water, Kawai 1972; Favorite et al. 1976; Nagata et al. 1986). In this way, the plastic is transported from high-density areas to low-density areas. In addition to this eastward movement, Ekman stress from winds tends to move surface waters from the subarctic and the subtropics toward the Transitional Water mass as a whole (see Roden 1970: fig. 5). Because of the convergent nature of this Ekman flow, densities tend to be high in Transitional Water. In addition, the generally convergent nature of water in the North Pacific Central Gyre (Masuzawa 1972) should result in high densities there also." Day, etc... 1988, p. 261 (Emphasis added)
5. Moore, Charles (November 2003). "Across the Pacific Ocean, plastics, plastics, everywhere". Natural History Magazine.
6. Berton, Justin (19 October 2007). "Continent-size toxic stew of plastic trash fouling swath of Pacific Ocean". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco: Hearst. hlm. W–8. Diakses tanggal 22 October 2007.
7. Cecil Adams Why don't we ever see pictures of the floating island of garbage? Straight Dope / Chicago Reader
8. Steve Gorman Scientists study huge plastic patch in Pacific Reuters
10. Lovett, Richard A. (2 March 2010). "Huge Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic Too". National Geographic News. National Geographic Society.
11. Victoria Gill (24 February 2010). "Plastic rubbish blights Atlantic Ocean". BBC. Diakses tanggal 16 March 2010.

Bacaan lanjutan

• Oliver J. Dameron; Michael Parke; Mark A. Albins; Russell Brainard (April 2007). "Marine debris accumulation in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: An examination of rates and processes". Marine Pollution Bulletin. 54 (4): 423–433. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2006.11.019. PMID 17217968.
• Rei Yamashita; Atsushi Tanimura (2007). "Floating plastic in the Kuroshio Current area, western North Pacific Ocean". Marine Pollution Bulletin. 54 (4): 485–488. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2006.11.012. PMID 17275038.
• Masahisa Kubota; Katsumi Takayama; Noriyuki Horii (2000). "Movement and accumulation of floating marine debris simulated by surface currents derived from satellite data" (PDF). School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokai University.
• Gregory, M.R.; Ryan, P.G. (1997). "Pelagic plastics and other seaborne persistent synthetic debris: a review of Southern Hemisphere perspectives". Dalam Coe, J.M.; Rogers, D.B. Marine Debris: Sources, Impacts, Solutions. New York: Springer-Verlag. hlm. 49–66.
• Moore, Charles G.; Phillips, Cassandra (2011). Plastic Ocean. Penguin Group. ISBN 9781452601465.
• Density of plastic particles found in zooplankton trawls from coastal waters of California to the North Pacific Central Gyre^{[pranala nonaktif permanen]} – Charles J Moore, Gwen L Lattin and Ann F Zellers (2005)
• The quantitative distribution and characteristics of neuston plastic in the North Pacific Ocean, 1984–1988 – R H Day, D G Shaw and S E Ignell (1988)
• Thomas Morton, Oh, This is Great, Humans Have Finally Ruined the Ocean, Vice Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 2 (2007), pp. 78–81.
• Hohn, Donovan (2011). Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-02219-9.
• Hoshaw, Lindsey (9 November 2009). "Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash". New York Times. Diakses tanggal 10 November 2009.
• Newman, Patricia (2014). Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Millbrook Press. (Juvenile Nonfiction).

Pranala luar

• Pacific Garbage Patch – Smithsonian Ocean Portal
• "Plastic Surf" The Unhealthful Afterlife of Toys and Packaging: Small remnants of toys, bottles and packaging persist in the ocean, harming marine life and possibly even us by Jennifer Ackerman Scientific American August 2010
• Plastic Paradise Movie – independent documentary by Angela Sun uncovering the mystery of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch known as the Plastic Paradise
• The source of the garbage patches, pictures
• Irish Examiner article
• Mega Expedition Departs Honolulu di YouTube
• Midway, a plastic island di YouTube
• Climate change, meet your apocalyptic twin: oceans poisoned by plastic. Public Radio International. December 13, 2016
• By 2050, the oceans could have more plastic than fish. Business Insider. January 27, 2017.

38°N 145°W

Templat:Polusi laut