Animated map of NASA showing the flow of ocean plastic

Flow of ocean plastic

The NASA public an animated map that shows the flow of ocean plastic and highlights the magnitude of pollution of marine waters worldwide.
Such representation was made possible thanks to a new method of quantifying the volumes of this substance, developed by a group of researchers from the University of Michigan (USA).

The map details the location and concentration of the plastic that floated in the oceans between April 2017 and September 2018. The data for the animated representation were collected, between 38 degrees north latitude and 38 degrees south latitude, by eight microsatellites from the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) hurricane prediction system.

According to estimates presented in the statement on the investigation, about eight million tons of plastic end up every year in the ocean through rivers and beaches.