A pair of organizations dedicated to protecting oceanic environments is teaming up to clean up the enormous gyre of marine litter known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. As part of that effort, amphibious drones will be flown to collect information that will be used in developing more efficient trash collection strategies and techniques at sea.
Amphibious drones will map enormous zone of drifting litter
The partnership is taking on the vortex of trash in the upper Pacific that covers an estimated 1.6 million kilometers. The litter content of the area is said to have increased ten-fold each decade since the 1940s. In contrast to public perceptions (created, in part, by nicknames like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch), debris in the gigantic zone doesn’t amass to form island- or continent-sized bodies. Instead, it floats freely, with most located in two principal regions.
Now environmental nonprofit groups Oceans Unmanned, Inc. and The Ocean Cleanup are joining forces…
