Project 1

The Animals 

Due to the Pacific Ocean's immense size, there is a wide variety of animals that call this ocean home. This is why a lot of attention is being put on ocean pollution. These animals have to swim around with plastic and other trash, which affects their health severely. Some of these animals include fish, turtles, sharks, seals, jelly fish, dolphins, whales, and many more. If these animals come in contact with any plastic, they risk possible death. Debris can be ingested by animals because they can mistake it for food (Debris Free Oceans 2020). Ingesting the food isn't the only danger that marine animals are faced with.  They are also at risk for being entangled in nets and fishing lines that are left in the ocean. Another organism in the Pacific Ocean that is affected by plastic are Autotrophs. These are organisms that use sunlight to produce their own food (Debris Free Oceans 2020). If plastic covers the sunlight, this could create major problems. 

 Bibliography

Debris Free Oceans. (2020). Re: Marine Debris. Retrieved from https://debrisfreeoceans.org/marine-debris

Background of the Pacific

The Pacific Ocean is a great body of water which surrounds the western parts of the United states as well as Canada. It also surrounds the eastern part of the world such as Russia, Japan, and China. The Pacific ocean is the biggest ocean in the world and is home to millions of different species living in the salt water. Due to this big size of this ocean, it is split into three different regions, known as the Eastern, Western and Central pacific. (Morgan, 2019). The wind and pressure patterns of this great ocean have a good correlation with the sun and it’s rotation. This can also be called a three - celled latitudinal which is atmosphere circulation. (Morgan, 2019).The winds from the Pacific ocean start from the subtropical high pressure zones coming from the north and south east pacific that have the latitude of 30 and 40 degrees. (Morgan, 2019). These winds that are created can also build up storms that take place in the middle of the ocean, sometimes stretching on the nearest parts of land. 

The temperature of the Pacific ocean varies. As you go closer to the bottom of the ocean, around seafloor the temperature will be flighty above freezing and as you are closer to the top the temperatures will get more warm as you reach the surface. This has to do with the sun and as the sun hits the top of the ocean, it will heat up and warm what it has in contact with.  The Deep zone of the ocean, which is about 80% of the ocean and that covers the middle has an average temperature of about 38 degrees fahrenheit. (Morgan, 2019).

Works Cited:
Bardach, John E., Charles Henry Cotter, and Joesph R. Morgan. “Tides.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., December 26, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/place/Pacific-Ocean/Tides.

Map and Location of the Pacific Ocean. Freeworldmaps, n.d. https://www.freeworldmaps.net/ocean/pacific/.

Pollution in the Pacific

Not only is the Pacific Ocean the largest ocean in the world, but it is also home to the largest body of marine trash known as "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch". This collection of garbage is located about halfway between Hawaii and the coast California. Trash is collected because the patch acts as a vortex which spins from the outside, while the inner part of the patch is calm. The spinning draws in debris as the center becomes increasingly larger. (National Geographic "Great Pacific" 2012)

Research suggests that approximately 1.15 to 2.41 million tons of plastic are entering the ocean every year. Not all of this plastic can be seen by the human eye, though. In fact, more than half of the plastic that is entering the ocean is microplastic. (The Ocean Cleanup "The Great Pacific" 2020) Microplastics are tiny particles of plastic that contain harmful chemicals. (Science Learning Hub "How Harmful" 2020)




Work Cited:

The Ocean Cleanup. “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” The Ocean Cleanup, 2020, theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/.

“How Harmful Are Microplastics?” Science Learning Hub, Science Learning Hub, 2020, www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/2809-how-harmful-are-microplastics.

National Geographic Society. “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” National Geographic Society, National Geographic , 9 Oct. 2012, www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/.