A teenager’s dream of cleaning up the world’s oceans may soon come true.
Boyan Slat is a high school student who lives in Holland, in Europe. Seven years ago, he was swimming in the ocean. He saw more trash in the water, than fish. So for a school project, he made a plan to clean up the ocean.
In 2013, Slat formed a group called The Ocean Cleanup. It raised money to put Slat’s water clean-up plan in action.
On September 8, Slat’s plan began.
In the ocean between California and Hawaii is a lot of floating garbage. It is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Slat’s group will clean it up using a floating tube. The tube will go around the garbage and trap it.
Tag: ocean
Scientists Working To Save Arctic Ice Cap
A team of scientists has come up with a plan they say could help rebuild the Arctic ice cap. The ice cap is a huge area of sea ice that covers most of the Arctic Ocean all year round.
Usually, the sea ice gets thicker and spreads further each winter, but this hasn’t happened for the past few years.
Last month, the ice cap had shrunk to its smallest size since scientists began keeping records of it 38 years ago. The weather in the Arctic has been unusually warm this winter. Some days, temperatures have been 20 degrees Celsius higher than is normal for this time of year. This month, the temperature was above 0°C at least one day.
North American Lobsters Invading British Waters
Some unwelcome visitors from North America have been turning up in the waters off the coast of Great Britain.
North American lobsters have been found in lobster traps in the North Sea, far from their native habitat.
Philippines Hit By Massive Typhoon
There has been a terrible storm in the Philippines.
The Philippines is a country in southeast Asia.
Because it is an island in the Pacific Ocean, the Philippines often gets very bad weather, including earthquakes, volcanoes and typhoons.
However, Typhoon Haiyan is perhaps the worst natural disaster to ever befall the country.
The typhoon hit the Philippines last Friday.
Its winds of up to 300 kilometres an hour whipped up the ocean waves.
The storm also caused flooding and landslides.
The country’s National Red Cross has launched a huge program to help the people whose houses were destroyed by the typhoon.
Scientists Criticize Iron-Dumping Experiment
Scientists around the world have criticized a group of Canadians for dumping more than 100 tonnes of iron dust into the Pacific Ocean last summer.
The group, called the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation, is supported by the village of Old Massett, British Columbia.
About 700 people live in the village, which is located on the Haida Gwaii islands.
They used to make their living by fishing for salmon, but now there are not enough salmon and 70 per cent of the villagers don’t have jobs.
Last July, the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation paid $2.5 million to an American businessman named Russ George to dump a mixture of iron sulphate and iron oxide dust into the ocean about 370 kilometres west of the islands.
They hoped the iron would cause more plankton to grow in that part of the Pacific.
They believed that more plankton would help increase the number of salmon in the area.
