South of this gyre is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
Cleaning up our oceans, one gyre at a time.
They're particularly abundant in what are called the open ocean Gyres.
However, the winter retreat
of sea ice has now shifted the regions of largest atmospheric forcing away from these Gyres.
The Atlantic has its own garbage patch, and there are others to be found in other Gyres around the world.
The movement of the major ocean Gyres of the world helps drive thermohaline circulation(commonly known
as the‘ocean conveyor belt'), which circulates ocean water all over the planet.
The Beaufort Gyre north of Alaska has traditionally acted as
a nursery for growing sea ice, but warmer conditions have impeded the gyre's ability to preserve older ice since the start of the 21st century.
Until recently, the Gyres in the Greenland and Iceland Seas that are preconditioned for oceanic
convection were situated close to the ice edge and, as a result, the atmospheric forcing was large, resulting in deep convective overturning.
Riding the southern Indian Ocean Gyre, this vortex of plastic garbage constantly circulates the ocean from Australia to Africa, down the Mozambique Channel, and back to Australia in a period of six years,
except for debris that get indefinitely stuck in the centre of the gyre.