Scientists study massive garbage patch at sea

LOS ANGELES: Marine scientists from California are venturing this week to the middle of the North Pacific for a study of plastic debris accumulating across hundreds of kilometers of open sea dubbed the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch'.

A research vessel carrying a team of about 30 researchers, technicians and crew members embarked on Sunday on a three-week voyage from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, based at the University of California at San Diego.

The expedition will study how much debris - mostly tiny plastic fragments - is collecting in an expanse of sea known as the North Pacific Ocean Gyre, how that material is distributed and how it affects marine life.