The Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch
Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (SEAPLEX)

Details & Video

The debris at the center of the North Pacific Ocean has the potential to damage marine life and alter the biological environment. Join us to hear first-hand accounts from scientists who traveled to the Garbage Patch, ask questions, and learn more.

Details

SEAPLEX Video

Photographs and Video

Photographs and video of the SEAPLEX expedition are from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Background

A thousand miles off California, the North Pacific Ocean Gyre contains one of the largest ecosystems on Earth — but it may be in danger from a deluge of accumulated plastic trash. Dubbed the "Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch," the debris at the center of the North Pacific Ocean has the potential to damage marine life and alter the biological environment.

Though this issue has recently received popular media attention, there was little scientific information available on the composition, extent, and effects of the debris. The small pieces of plastic that make up most of the material are not detectable by satellites or airplanes.

This is the story, shared by a scientist and a teacher who recently traveled to the Garbage Patch as part of a graduate-student led scientific research expedition, SEAPLEX.

Photographs and Video

Photographs and video of the SEAPLEX expedition are from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Event Schedule

Cal Poly Main Event: Friday, April 16

Science Café at the Kennedy Library, 2nd Floor
Café Lounge, Bldg 35 at Cal Poly
1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Sampling in the Gyre II

Downtown Events: Thursday, April 15

Science Café at SLO Children's Museum, 1010 Nipomo
5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Pre-K Watershed Science
6:00 to 7:00 p.m. K – 8 Watershed Science
Science Café at Downtown Brew, 1119 Garden
8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Sampling in the Gyre I

Grover Beach Event: Saturday, April 17

Science Café at the Exploration Station
867 Ramona, Grover Beach
11:00 a.m. to 12 noon
Pre-K to 8 More Watershed Science/Sampling the Gyre

Photographs and Video

Photographs and video of the SEAPLEX expedition are from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Event Sponsors

Thanks to our co-sponsors for this topic: