In January 1992, twelve containers fell off a cargo ship into the North Pacific, with one container spilling 28,800 rubber ducks and bath toys being shipped for sale in the US. They were made famous by oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who repurposed them along with other flotsam (such as a container-full of Nike shoes which were spilled in 1990) into ad hoc Lagrangian drifters for characterizing and monitoring ocean currents:
Many of these plastic animals remain in the Great Pacific garbage patch, which is a gyre in the North Pacific Ocean estimated to contain six pounds of plastic - mostly microplastics - for every pound of plankton. These microscopic particles come from a variety of sources, including industrial production of microplastics and subsequent release into waterways; the break