GHOSTNET 2005: High Seas Debris Detection and Tracking in the North Pacific
Using historical and current satellite data, the Ghostnet Volunteer Ship program will identify and locate "convergence zones" in the North Pacific, where ocean currents and winds pile and concentrate marine debris. The data gathered will be made available to help remove or destroy lost and discarded high seas driftnets (ghostnets). Because the same forcing factors that concentrate debris may also concentrate biological productivity and activity, there may be a significant overlap between the location of the nets and the location of marine organisms at risk of entanglement.
This program is run by Airborne Technologies of Wasilla, Alaska, with support from NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) and Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC); NOAA Research; and NOAA Satellite and Information Service.
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