Project sections
a. Data collection, including photographs of all particles down to 20 microns taken from the surface of all oceans in 500ml of water. Currently, 30 yachts cross oceans collecting samples; this number should be increased to 200. This information is not currently being collected.
b. Sample image analysis, as well as the relationship of satellite imagery to the samples. We know that plastic has an indirect impact on water surface roughness, which can be seen from space, but it has not been calibrated or quantified.
c. Particle analysis on collected samples and SML layer analysis; The majority of the world’s lipophilic toxic chemicals, black carbon soot, and microplastic end up in the SML later. It returns to land in the form of rainwater from the oceans after a few days, weeks, or years. Studies have already confirmed this for micro and molecular plastics, but the opportunity must be expanded with surface water samples collected from around the world.
Specifics about the project
The GOES project is a CDCP collaborative data collection project for coastal and oceanic zones for marine plankton, particle pollution from microplastics, and partially combusted carbon. Currently, 30 sailing vessels are sampling in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as coastal zones. We hope to increase the number to 200 in order to make it the world’s largest oceanic marine research sampling project.
The Phase 1 GOES Report has been completed.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364821580 Climate Disruption Caused by a Decline in Marine
Biodiversity and Pollution
Because microplastics and carbon are hydrophobic, they tend to float on the surface of oceanic water. The particles will become concentrated in the SML surface microlayer, which may be as thin as 1um to 1000um. The SML encompasses all oceans and 71% of the planet. The SML contains omega-3 phytoplankton lipids, surfactants, proteins, carbohydrates, plankton and marine life fragments, as well as lipophilic toxic chemicals, microplastics, and black carbon. The SML layer is essential for ocean survival and plays a significant role in climate regulation, atmospheric water vapour pressure, aerosols, and cloud formation.
Pollution-derived lipophilic chemicals such as PFAS, PCBs, PBDE herbicides, and pesticides are 500 times more concentrated in the surface SML layer than in the lower layers. The lipophilic chemicals will be concentrated thousands of times by hydrophobic plastic and carbon particles. These particles enter the food chain of marine zooplankton and protists, and they are also directly toxic to phytoplankton and cyanobacteria. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, concentrations of carbon soot and plastic up to 1000 particles per litre were measured.
Marine plankton are the planet’s life support system and the foundation of the food chain. The SML layer and marine plankton regulate gas and water vapour diffusion into the atmosphere and generate aerosols for water vapour nucleation to form clouds. High-latitude clouds reflect massive amounts of energy back into space. Rainwater is now contaminated with plastic, carbon, and the toxic chemicals found in SML. The oceans regulate up to 80% of our climate; we all rely on them for survival; however, the oceans have been largely ignored as the primary climate regulator. At COP26, I gave the first presentation on the oceans: https://youtu.be/ORGxHr7GqrQ
Ocean acidification is known as the “evil twin” of climate change because the consequences will be far more severe. The only subject on which the IPCC can report with certainty is ocean acidification. Because of carbon dioxide dissolution through the surface layer, the pH of the ocean is decreasing. Plants have also lost more than half of their primary productivity in the oceans, and dead zones known as HNLC zones now cover more than 25% of the Southern Ocean and are rapidly spreading. More than half of all marine life is dependent on carbonate forms such as Aragonite and Magnesium Calcite, which dissolve at pH 8.04. The current oceanic pH is 8.03, and by the time it reaches pH7.95 by 2045, most seals, birds, whales, coral reefs, and fish will be gone, as will the food supply for 3 billion people.
There are numerous other issues affecting nature on land and marine life in the oceans. According to a recent WWF report, 69% of the world’s species are currently endangered, and we have already lost more than 70% of nature on land. The situation in the oceans is similar, and the problems are worsening.
Humanity will survive climate change, but not the destruction of nature on land and marine life in the oceans over the next 25 years unless we act now to reverse the damage.