Tag: tsunami

3 million to 4 million tons of debris into the ocean Tsunamis generated by the magnitude-9 earthquake in Japan last March dragged 3 million to 4 million tons of debris into the ocean after tearing up Japanese harbors and homes.Scientists believe ocean currents are carrying some of the lumber, refrigerators, fishing boats and other objects across the Pacific toward the United States.One to 5 percent of the 1 million to 2 million tons of debris still in the ocean may reach Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon and Washington and British Columbia, said University of Hawaii senior researcher and ocean current expert Nikolai Maximenko.That's only a portion of the 20 million to 25 million tons of debris the tsunamis generated altogether, including what was left on land.Maximenko plans to discuss Tuesday at a news conference his latest estimates for where the debris is and when it may wash ashore. Last year, his team estimated debris could arrive in Hawaii in early 2013.Some debris appears to have already arrived in the U.S., like a half-dozen large buoys suspected to be from Japanese oyster farms found in Alaska late last year.Nicholas Mallos, conservation biologist and marine debris specialist for the Ocean Conservancy, said many of ...

Bits and Pieces of People's Lives Bits and pieces of people's lives, that is what one reporter said; we are not to think of the Japan tsunami debris as litter when it begins to wash up on our shores in 2013, but rather as bits and pieces of people's lives. But is it already washing up on our shores?2011 ended with a wave of sensationalized headlines from British Columbia, Alaska and Washington, reporting sightings of debris from the Japan tsunami already reaching shore on the West Coast; setting off a contentious debate between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and a few independent oceanographers and flotsam trackers. Waiting for word on the other side of the Pacific, are the people of Japan whose missing families and friends are symbolically represented in the bits and pieces of debris.While painting a picture of 20 million tons of plastic and paper and metal and wood stretching a thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean, some news stories are also raising fear of radiation as a result of the Fukushima meltdown, and others even speak of the possibility of macabre scenes of body parts washing up on our beaches as severed feet in tennis ...

Tracking Marine Debris from the Japanese Tsunami

Portions of houses, boats, ships, furniture, cars will be washing ashore Some debris from the March tsunami in Japan has reached the West Coast.The float was displayed at a Tuesday night presentation at Peninsula College by Seattle oceanographers Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Jim Ingraham, consultants who produce the "Beachcombers Alert" newsletter.Tons of debris from Japan will likely begin washing ashore in about a year, from California to southern Alaska, they said. Items that wash up may include portions of houses, boats, ships, furniture, portions of cars and just about anything else that floats, he said.That could include parts of human bodies, Ebbesmeyer said. Athletic shoes act as floats.Flotsam in a current travels an average of 7 mph, but it can move as much as 20 mph if it has a large area exposed to the wind, Ebbesmeyer said. The latest float sits well atop the water, has a shallow draft and is lightweight. Similar floats have been found on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.Models show currents could pull some Japanese tsunami debris into the Strait of Juan de Fuca as far as Port Townsend."All debris should be treated with a great reverence and respect," Ebbesmeyer said.If the debris has any kind ...

Leaked about 45 tons of highly radioactive water Japan's crippled nuclear power plant leaked about 45 tons of highly radioactive water from a purification device over the weekend, its operator said, and some may have drained into the ocean.The leak is a reminder of the difficulties facing Tokyo Electric Power Co. as it tries to meet its goal of bringing the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to a cold shutdown by year's end.A pool of radioactive water was discovered midday Sunday around a decontamination device, TEPCO said in a statement on its website. After the equipment was turned off, the leak appeared to stop. Later, workers found a crack in a concrete barrier leaking the contaminated water into a gutter that leads to the ocean.TEPCO estimated that about 300 liters leaked out before the crack was blocked with sandbags.Officials were checking whether any water had reached the nearby ocean.The leakage of radioactive water from the Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean in the weeks after the March 11 accident caused widespread concern that seafood in the coastal waters would be contaminated.The pooled water around the purification device was measured Sunday at 16,000 bequerels per liter of cesium-134, and 29,000 ...

A 25 million tonne marine debris field created by the Japanese tsunami to reach Hawaii A 25 million tonne marine debris field created by the Japanese tsunami back in March currently afloat in the North Pacific is set to reach Hawaii by this winter, according to experts.The debris field was created as the Japanese tsunami receded from the land. Although heavier materials sank, the buoyant materials went on to form the huge rubbish mass which floated out to sea.NOAA has predicted possible trajectories for the debris field using OSCURS (Ocean Surface Current Simulator) Year 1 = red; Year 2 = orange; Year 3 = yellow; Year 4 = light blue; Year 5 = violet Photo: Courtesy of J. Churnside, NOAA; created using Google.Worryingly, the debris is moving more quickly than previously anticipated. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Hawaii researchers have run a model using OSCURS (Ocean Surface Current Simulator) to estimate general direction and drift rate of debris.If their models are correct, debris could pass near or wash ashore in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands this winter and the rest of the archipelago in less than two years. Debris is estimated to reach the West ...

The biggest proof that the debris is from the Japanese tsunami is a fishing boat 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.They estimate the debris field is spread out across an area that's roughly 2,000 miles long and 1,000 miles wide located between Japan and Midway Atoll, where pieces could wash up in January. Just how much has already sunk and what portion is still floating is unknown."It's a common misconception it's like one mat that you ...

The tsunami can cover about 155 miles in about 10 minutes toward the U.S. coast As scientists have been baffled by earthquakes in the U.S. and a tsunami in Japan, there is one thing some of them seem to agree on - something really bad is about to happen and it's going to happen soon.That's the news uncovered by New York Times best-selling novelist Steve Alten from the research he performed for his new book, Phobos: Mayan Fear, a fictional tale of the Mayan 2012 doomsday prediction.His story incorporates the very real existence of a volatile volcano in the Canary Islands that some scientists believe could pose a catastrophic threat to the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. What's worse is that many believe the volcano is close to erupting."Scientists have been tracking this since 2001," said Alten."Ten years ago, Dr. Simon Day, of the Benfield Greig Hazard Research Centre at University College London, predicted that if the volcano, called Cumbre Vieja, was to erupt, it would cause a landslide, which in turn would create a massive mega-tsunami."Moving at roughly the speed of a commercial jet, these waves would be about 100 to 160 feet high by the time they ...

Exercise IOWAVE 11 will re-enact the seismic events of December 26, 2004 Nearly two dozen countries next Wednesday will take part in a full-scale test of the Indian Ocean's tsunami alert system, using the 2004 Sumatra quake as the basis for the exercise, UNESCO said on Thursday.Exercise IOWAVE 11 will re-enact the seismic events of December 26, 2004, simulating a 9.2-magnitude quake that occurs northwest of Sumatra, sending waves across the Indian Ocean that strike the coast of South Africa 12 hours later.It will be a trial run for newly-launched Regional Tsunami Service Providers (RTSPs), located in Australia, India and Indonesia, which will issue simulated "alerts."They are part of a region-wide tsunami warning and mitigation service, set up by 28 countries after the 2004 disaster, which claimed nearly a quarter of a million lives.Until now, two bodies -- the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre -- have been in charge of tsunami alerts in the Indian Ocean.They will end this interim job at the end of 2012, provided the handover goes well."The exercise aims to evaluate the system's operational capacity, the efficiency of communications among the different actors and the state of preparation of national emergency services," ...

After earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan The Maritime Administration (MARAD) issued an advisory reminding mariners that, subsequent to the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, a debris field formed in the North Pacific Ocean. This debris field may have dispersed over a broad area between Japan and the US West Coast. Mariners transiting these waters should remain vigilant and should report significant debris sightings. The content of this advisory is shown below:1. THIS MARAD ADVISORY PROVIDES GUIDANCE TO VESSELS TRANSITING THE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN FROM JAPAN TO THE U.S. WEST COAST.2. THIS ADVISORY WILL BE PUBLISHED ON THE MARAD WEB SITE AT WWW.MARAD.DOT.GOV.3. THE 9.0 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE THAT OCCURRED MARCH 11, 2011 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU JAPAN RESULTED IN A DEBRIS FIELD IN THE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN.4. POSSIBLE MARINE DEBRIS TYPES INCLUDE DERELICT VESSELS, FISHING NETS AND FLOATS, LUMBER, CARGO CONTAINERS, AND HOUSEHOLD GOODS. BECAUSE DIFFERENT DEBRIS TYPES MOVE WITH CURRENTS OR WINDS DIFFERENTLY, THE DEBRIS MAY BE DISPERSED OVER A VERY BROAD AREA BETWEEN JAPAN AND THE U.S. WEST COAST. SOME GENERAL INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT WEBSITE HTTP://MARINEDEBRIS.NOAA.GOV/INFO/JAPANFAQS.HTML5. U.S.-FLAG OPERATORS WITH SHIPS TRANSITING THE SUBJECT AREA SHOULD ADVISE SUCH VESSELS TO REMAIN VIGILANT ...