This morning I saw a post on the Seabean Facebook group page from my friend Ed Perry about a news story concerning the Japan earthquake debris beginning to arrive on the US coastline. Oceanographer Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer talked about this at the International Seabean Symposium back in October of 2011. Beachcombers all along the western US coastline have been anticipating the arrival of debris. Here are the developing stories from the Peninsula Daily News:
December 9, 2011 an article appeared in the Peninsula Daily News about an educational talk being given by Dr. Ebbesmeyer speculating about what might wash up and when it might happen.
December 15, 2011 – “The first piece of debris that could be identified as washing up on the West Coast from the March 11 tsunami in Japan — a large black float — was found on a Neah Bay beach two weeks ago, Seattle oceanographers Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Jim Ingraham said Tuesday night. The floats are included in masses of black blobs supporting huge rafts of debris that include fishing boats, houses and possibly human bodies, Ebbesmeyer said. Many of those bodies and parts of bodies will likely begin washing up in about a year, some simply as feet in athletic shoes, similar to those found in Puget Sound over the last decade, he said. Athletic shoes make the perfect floats to preserve parts of bodies, Ebbesmeyer said, and there are still thousands of people missing from tsunami-stricken areas of Japan.”
December 16, 2011 – More debris from Japan being found, since people are learning what to look for. “About a quarter of the 100 million tons of debris from Japan is expected to begin to make landfall on Pacific coastlines in a year, Ebbesmeyer said. Most of the debris is still in the middle of the Pacific, but some lighter, windblown flotsam travels faster, he said.”
Wow, that’s 25 MILLLION TONS of debris washing up on the Pacific coast of the US during 2012. According to Dr. Ebbesmeyer, quoted in the newspaper articles, “All debris should be treated with a great reverence and respect,…families in Japan are waiting to hear of any items that may have been associated with their loved ones and may travel to the U.S. to meet those who found these mementos.”
December 19, 2011 – “A big black float that was thought to be in the first wave of tsunami debris to be found on beaches in the U.S. has been identified as having come from Miyagi prefecture, one of the areas hardest hit by the March’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, according to Japanese newspaper The Mainichi Daily News.”
More info:
Ben Sherman, of the NOAA National Ocean Service left the following comment on one of the articles from the Peninsula Daily News:
“If people want to learn more about Marine Debris from Japan, visit the following weblink http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/features/dec11/japan-tsunami-debris.html where you can see what major ocean modelers are basing their predictions for debris land fall on – based on known debris … combined with historical weather and ocean current patterns. Also learn about what Federal agencies including NOAA are doing and hear a podcast interview with one of NOAA’s top marine debris specialists.”
Read about the first time I met Dr. Ebbesmeyer and learned about his fascinating line of work studying things that drift on ocean currents.
Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer with some of the flotsam he's collected and studied over the years.
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I found one of those large black oyster floats today on a beach in Florence, Oregon.