Scientists Have MASSIVELY Underestimated The Amount Of Plastic Pollution In The Ocean

Remember that continent sized patch of garbage we were telling you about that is floating around the Pacfic Ocean? It turns out that was just the tip of the iceberg!
University of Washington oceanographer Giora Proskurowski has found evidence that suggests that the volume of plastic trash that is polluting our oceans could be underestimated by a factor of 27!
Basically, his study found that the plastic trash harming living organisms in the ocean doesn’t just sit on top of the water, but can linger up to 20 meters deep.
Yuck!
Research indicates that scientists studying oceanic pollution have been underestimating plastic pollution by an average factor of 2.5, but don’t account for high winds that can push the plastic deep beneath the surface.
In those instances is when the volume is being underestimated by a factor of 27 and as a result, adding “a lot of error into the compilation of the data set.”
It’s amazing this massive miscalculation went unnoticed for so long! Time to get your game up, oceanographers!
[Image via FruggoWikimedia Commons.]