How The Great Pacific 'Garbage Patch' Is Threatening Marine Life

In the north Pacific Ocean, a huge clockwise-churning vortex stretches from the equator up to southern Canada.

According to HuffPost, within the massive gyre is an ever-growing swell of trash known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

But it's not a cohesive patch, exactly, or one island-like accumulation of debris.

Clumps of plastic bottles, abandoned fishing gear and beer crates are scattered across the expanse of ocean from Japan to California.