SLICKS
Slick Science
Slicks are strips of calm water on the ocean’s surface, and they may be a key feature of surface ecosystems. Slicks concentrate both life and plastic in their calm waters, which shift and move over time. If you see a slick, we want to know! You can email us on the contact page, with any slick details you have, day or night. We’ll then look if the slick was captured on satellite images, which will help us recognize slicks from space!

We’ll need:
1) The slick location, including GPS coordinates, and the time of day (including your time zone)
2) A description of the slick or slicks, including things like:
- If there was life or plastic in the slick (or both!)
- The size and shape of objects in the slick
- How many slicks you saw
- The size and shape of the slicks
3) Any other information you happen to have will be extremely helpful, like:
- The ocean color and condition (was the ocean clear blue, brown, green, was it wavy or flat?)
- If you’d be willing to share some pictures of the slicks (we’ll reach out to you!)
- The air temperature
- The wind speed (an estimate is fine)
- Humidity
Thank you so much for helping us with our Slick Science!