Japan Tsunami Debris Floating Toward Hawaii

[Dover]

Source: AP/HuffPost





HONOLULU — Up to 20 million tons of tsunami debris floating from Japan could arrive on Hawaii's shores by early 2013, before reaching the West Coast, according to estimates by University of Hawaii scientists.

A Russian training ship spotted the junk – including a refrigerator, a television set and other appliances – in an area of the Pacific Ocean where the scientists from the university's International Pacific Research Center predicted it would be. The biggest proof that the debris is from the Japanese tsunami is a fishing boat that's been traced to the Fukushima Prefecture, the area hardest hit by the March 11 disaster.

Jan Hafner, a scientific computer programmer, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that researchers' projections show the debris would reach the coasts of Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Canada around 2014.


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/25/japan-tsunami-debris-hawaii_n_1031299.html

[tawadi]

1. Posted in GD this morning

But that pic is more impressive.

:wow:

[pam4water]

2. I wonder how much will end up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

[Dover]

3. I don't understand why this can't be collected by some ships?

And is there any recycling value in any of it?

[kentauros]

5. They might have to take various bio-hazard type precautions though.

I don't know if any bodies would still be in it, other than from reading about searches of debris fields here after Hurricane Ike. They were going around searching as long as a year after the hurricane and may still be looking. Anyone attempting to clean up that debris would have to be aware of that part and be prepared.

I would think that wildlife and whatever else has "taken care" of most bodies, but some would be in vehicles, too. A gruesome task all the way around.

I do suspect some of it will end up in the Pacific Gyre. How much has sunk along the way?

[Dover]

6. Hadn't thought of the bodies. I was thinking more along the lines of

radiation issues. Whether they clean it up on the ocean or when it comes ashore, they'll still have to
deal with these things.

At any rate, I don't know why they don't attempt to use some means of netting it or loading it
or something. Will they really wait for it to come ashore?

[kentauros]

9. Most of that debris was washed out to sea long before

there was any radiation problem. That stuff was flooded back out into the ocean in minutes and hours, not days. If there is any residual radiation problem, it would be from the fallout drifting that direction, if it did (I haven't kept up on that issue.)

Also, the massive amount of debris would overwhelm even our entire navy if they were to try to gather it all. Locally, Hurricane Ike created debris fields all over the various little islands of Galveston Bay from the houses and buildings washed away on the coast. That stuff will likely remain there, breaking down over time, or someone will clear out a little bit if they have some use for an island. No one is spending either the time or the money to clear anything, and I suspect that's the same thinking behind letting the debris continue its journey to far shores (or the Garbage Patch.)

[harvey007]

4. NBC's report on this mess

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540

[bluedigger]

7. Finally! Free shipping from Asia!

The plastics are coming! And some wood and other floating crap. I can't see any bodies or other organic debris surviving so long. And there shouldn't be much worry about radioactivity, other than the exposure of the debris as it began it's migration. The biggest release of that was well after the tsunami. It would be a cool study to see what makes it across.

[Bladian]

8. It's too bad.

Both because of the loss of life, and the environmental factors. I admit though, I giggled for some reason when it mentioned a fridge. That was funnier than it should've been.

[Le Taz Hot]

10. I can't speak for the environmental impact

this will have on Hawaii but in California, this would destroy the coast wildlife, much of it just now coming back from over-hunting in the 19th and 20th centuries. Among other things, I can see this mass wiping out the kelp beds which are home to a myriad of sea life, including the California Sea Otter. The Elephant Seals are JUST NOW coming back. It would block the migratory patterns of whales going to/from Alaska to their breeding grounds in Mexico. This would devastat the coastlines of at least three states.