A massive 'desert' exists in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

Scientists say there's a massive 'desert' in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Science Alert reports it's located in the South Pacific Gyre and is home to an alarmingly low number of marine organisms.

The team, which hails from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, made the discovery in a study that involves sampling the microbial community from the surface all the way down to the seafloor.

"To our surprise, we found about a third less cells in South Pacific surface waters compared to ocean gyres in the Atlantic", said microbial ecologist Bernhard Fuchs.

"It was probably the lowest cell numbers ever measured in oceanic surface waters."