The 7th Continent term is the name given to the new continent of marine waste created by humans. The waste is made up to 89% plastic, an estimated 10% of plastic in the world end in the oceans. The islands of waste are very hard to locate by satellite because they consist of very small pieces of plastic mobile and predominantly deep. That's why it's a little known phenomenon to date.
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The seventh continent observed by Greenpeace. |
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Natural oceanic gyre. |
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First observation of waste in the 80s by NOAA. |
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The latest observations of the Pacific islands of waste. |
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Concentration of waste in the islands per unit per square kilometer, the average yellow islands, the peaks in red and blue the rest of the oceans. |
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Schematic of a cross-section of an island waste. |
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The seventh continent out of commercial areas in light blue. |
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Depth of waste with the decomposition time of a plastic bag and a plastic bottle. |
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Probability of islands from other areas of waste in light of current knowledge. |
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A big thank you to the team of "Dessous des Cartes" and Arte television, virtually the only media to relay this kind of problem. |