Great Pacific Garbage Patch

earth
earth Posts: 934
edited December 2018 in The cake stop
I'm all for keeping the environment in good shape so the thought of a pile of plastic the size of France or Texas or whatever floating around in the ocean sounds like a terrible thing. But the thing is, where is it? France and Texas are clearly visible from space and in the satellite images that make up Google Maps. I can even see the top of the Eiffel tower. But I can't see any plastic in any of the satellite images available on't'web.

Is it that the photos were taken decades ago after capable satellites had been put up but before the plastic collected? The window must be narrow because a pile of plastic the size of France does not collect overnight. I talked to a guy from a charity trying to do something about it and he told me they had been telling people about this for 30 years but nobody listened until a few years ago. Or is it that nobody photographed the ocean because there's nothing of interest to see and the images of the ocean are not real?

Something must explain this mystery.

Comments

  • graeme_s-2
    graeme_s-2 Posts: 3,382
    https://searchengineland.com/great-paci ... arth-21333
  • robert88
    robert88 Posts: 2,696
    If it is filled with trash it's most likely to be Texas-sized.
  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    Robert88 wrote:
    If it is filled with trash it's most likely to be Texas-sized.

    why?
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • Ben6899
    Ben6899 Posts: 9,686
    How "good" do you think satellite cameras are!? Think what the "trash" will be made up of: discrete items, many partially submerged and many transparent or translucent.
    Ben

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  • harry-s
    harry-s Posts: 295
    earth wrote:
    the satellite images that make up Google Maps.

    Google maps are mostly aerial images from aircraft. There's Landsat imagery in rural and remote areas, and the difference is very marked.
  • earth
    earth Posts: 934
    Graeme_S wrote:
    <span class="skimlinks-unlinked">https://searchengineland.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch-on-google-earth-21333</span&gt;
    I would expect to be able to see a colour difference between the trash pile and the surrounding ocean. I don't expect to able to see the individual items.

    I already read that very article.

    And it appears youTube is a far better resource for witnessing it. Plenty of video's of floating waste on there.
  • robert88
    robert88 Posts: 2,696
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Robert88 wrote:
    If it is filled with trash it's most likely to be Texas-sized.

    why?

    France is more environmentally responsible (in my opinion).
  • Ben6899
    Ben6899 Posts: 9,686
    Robert88 wrote:
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Robert88 wrote:
    If it is filled with trash it's most likely to be Texas-sized.

    why?

    France is more environmentally responsible (in my opinion).

    Also: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46393501
    Ben

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  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    Isn’t calling your child Abcde emotional abuse.
  • john80
    john80 Posts: 2,965
    Webboo wrote:
    Isn’t calling your child Abcde emotional abuse.

    The child has a special name and therefore the child deserves to live its life free from the ridicule that the parents have created through poor choices. The parents are just teaching the kid that it sucks to be different.
  • robert88
    robert88 Posts: 2,696
    I don't think even Johnny Cash could've made a song about it.
  • drlodge
    drlodge Posts: 4,826
    Webboo wrote:
    Isn’t calling your child Abcde emotional abuse.

    Should've called her qwerty instead, as the kid was probably conceived on the keyboard on her office desk.
    WyndyMilla Massive Attack | Rourke 953 | Condor Italia 531 Pro | Boardman CX Pro | DT Swiss RR440 Tubeless Wheels
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  • orraloon
    orraloon Posts: 13,227
    drlodge wrote:
    Webboo wrote:
    Isn’t calling your child Abcde emotional abuse.

    Should've called her qwerty instead, as the kid was probably conceived on the keyboard on her office desk.
    Think it was named after Acme Waste Collection, the name on the bins round the back, except they can't spell.
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    Ben6899 wrote:
    How "good" do you think satellite cameras are!? Think what the "trash" will be made up of: discrete items, many partially submerged and many transparent or translucent.

    it depends which ones you are talking about, the military of various nations of the world, they are obviously exceptionally good, the images the public get to play with slightly less so, but still good enough for scientists to use them to track penguin colonys by the discolouration of the ice from the build up of penguin poop.

    and certainly people were using those images to find all kinds of stuff floating in the ocean in the search for debris of MH370
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,461
    Ben6899 wrote:
    Robert88 wrote:
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Robert88 wrote:
    If it is filled with trash it's most likely to be Texas-sized.

    why?

    France is more environmentally responsible (in my opinion).

    Also: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46393501

    I reckon that's media bias. ABC7 sounds like a news network owned by a family member.
  • earth
    earth Posts: 934
    awavey wrote:
    Ben6899 wrote:
    How "good" do you think satellite cameras are!? Think what the "trash" will be made up of: discrete items, many partially submerged and many transparent or translucent.

    it depends which ones you are talking about, the military of various nations of the world, they are obviously exceptionally good, the images the public get to play with slightly less so, but still good enough for scientists to use them to track penguin colonys by the discolouration of the ice from the build up of penguin poop.

    and certainly people were using those images to find all kinds of stuff floating in the ocean in the search for debris of MH370

    So why don't we see photos of the floating garbage patches? The YouTube videos are mainly of rubbish floating about in harbours and rivers. Again, if what we are told is true then it is a tragedy but it bothers me that the media tell us about this and I have not seen any evidence. It's not as if it should be difficult to present evidence of a floating pile of waste if it is the size of a country.

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