Microplastics may be changing the colour of the Pacific Ocean

Detailed summary

Research indicates that microplastics in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch may be changing ocean color. This change creates a subtle blue-green tint that satellites have detected…

Far out in the North Pacific Ocean, a floating mass of rubbish may be doing more than polluting the water. New research suggests that these tiny plastic particles could be altering how sunlight scatters across the ocean, creating a subtle blue-green tint that satellites have detected over two decades. The particles responsible are too small to see from orbit. "We were shocked, excited, and a little alarmed to see the same shift in ocean colour on the map after we analysed the first satellite dataset of the garbage patch," ocean optics specialist Shea Cheatham of the University of Bergen in Norway told ScienceAlert.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Times of India. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.