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Kaisei Project – Researching the Plastic Vortex

August 5, 2009

Cross-posted from the Tahina Expedition:
My wife and I are leaving in October to begin a five year sailing circumnavigation we are calling the Tahina Expedition. Our trip is not just about visiting remote pacific island atolls, sipping Coronas on the beach, and snorkeling around beautiful marine life. The Tahina Expedition also hopes to raise awareness about issues facing the oceans and the lives of those creatures and people who live in and around them.
One big issue is that mankind has for countless ages assumed the ocean is so big, that it can “wash away” our waste products and sewage. As human population has exploded, this approach could not continue. In recent decades, efforts have been made, by responsible governments and other organizations, to greatly reduce putting trash and untreated sewage into our oceans. In some areas of the world, beaches and marine life have actually recovered to some extent.
However, one very large related problem has only been introduced in the past century: plastic in the oceans. Plastic does not bio-degrade like many products. It does “photo-degrade” (due to the effects of the sun) to some extent over a long period of time (many years). Since the oceans are so vast, you would think it would take a LOT of plastic for people to notice the problem. Well, it has begun to be noticed.
There are vast currents in the Pacific ocean that keep the waters circulating. These areas are known as Oceanic Gyres. In the north Pacific Gyre there is an area that has become known as the Plastic Vortex – or the Garbage Patch. Here millions of tons of garbage (mostly plastic) have been accumulating for decades.

Pacific Gyre

The Kaisei Project is sending two ships to the Plastic Vortex to research and take measurements on the scale of the problem. On their site, you can view a Google Earth plugin visualization showing the current positions of the two vessels and placemarks showing progress reports as they make their way to the vortex. Most of the placemarks contain video blog entries.
Kaisei Project in Google Earth

The issue of garbage in the ocean is already having a huge impact on marine life. Birds, fish, jellyfish, sharks, and other creature all end up consuming plastic particles. Many of them die because they can’t digest or are poisoned by the plastics. Some of these creatures in turn end up getting consumed by humans. So, not only are we ruining the oceans and marine life, but in a probably just twist of fate, we could be killing ourselves.
The Tahina Expedition plans to take note of trash, especially plastic, as we travel around the world on our sailing catamaran. My wife and I will begin the trip in late October and will continue for 5 years. You’ll be able to follow along in Google Earth, and we’ll be sharing a large array of photography including regular snapshots, underwater photography, HD video, and even aerial photography of places we visit which you’ll be able to view in Google Earth (thanks to our partnership with Google). We hope you’ll follow along on the Tahina Expedition Blog.

About Frank Taylor

Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.

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Filed Under: Applications, Environment, GE Plugin, Google Earth News, Sailing, Sightseeing

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PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

Comments

  1. florent says

    August 5, 2009 at 3:54 pm

    Will you keep on blogging over this 5 years trip?? I hope so…

  2. Project Kaisei says

    August 11, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    Project Kaisei just left today for their second voyage to go the North Pacific Gyre where they will collect the plastic and trash that has accumulated there, as well as research environmentally friendly ways to dispose of it. You can help save our oceans and the wildlife that live there by visiting http://www.dreamsailraffle.com, as well as posting our website on your pages!



PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

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