Beaches along the coasts of Washington and Oregon are treasure troves of flotsam for avid beachcombers. But one scientist says that what’s on its way to the west coast is unprecedented and those areas are totally unprepared.
Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer is a self-proclaimed expert on manmade stuff that floats the ocean blue. He even wrote the book on it, called Flotsametrics and the Floating World.
Now he says the first evidence of what could be 20 million tons of debris from coastal Japan is beginning to arrive. After the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami devastated the eastern coast of Japan last March, cars, houses, people and their belongings were swept out to sea. Still over 20,000 people are dead or reported missing.
Ebbesmeyer says, “We are not prepared for this. Nobody is prepared. Nobody has even thought through the dimensions.”
And prepared or not, the floating field of debris is on its way. A buoy that landed on a beach in northwest Washington may be the first evidence of the flotsam storm that’s brewing at sea.
3 Japanese Buoy Types Washing Ashore from Oregon to Alaska, Photo by John Ingraham
He estimates that 25 percent will sink as it floats along ocean currents. Another 25 percent could reach the west coast of the U.S. and Canada. Probably another 25 percent will enter into the Pacific Gyre and return to Japan but not for about six years. The rest will likely pass by Hawaii on the way to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch where it will join plastic refuse from all over the world.
The Path of Japan's Earthquake and Tsunami Debris As It Moves from Japan towards the U.S. West Coast. Click on the image to see the animation.
He says, “There’s never been a devastation on one continent that has moved off to the other continent and actually recorded.”
Because of the nuclear accident that followed the earthquake and tsunami, Ebbesmeyer is concerned that some of the Japanese flotsam could carry radioactive material.
Nir Barnea from NOAA says there is little cause for alarm. He expects most of what washes up on Washington and Oregon beaches to be lumber and some household items. He says, “We don’t expect any debris items that are exotic or unusual.”
But beachcombers are always looking for those unusual items. Frequently Japanese fishing floats wash ashore in Washington after a big storm. If and when beachcombers find any Japanese items they can report the finds to Ebbesmeyer who is tracking the arrivals online.
The big west coast arrival wasn’t expected for about two years. In October a Russian cargo ship spotted boats, refrigerators and large pieces of homes near the Midway Islands about 1,700 miles from Hawaii and about 300 miles further east than expected.
NASA Projects Debris Field Track
That sighting forced scientists to revise their estimates down from five years to two. The Japanese flotsam patch is roughly twice the size of Texas and heading on a direct course with the Washington and Oregon coast traveling at about 7 miles per hour.
Ebbesmeyer says get ready because lighter weight items like the black buoy that washed ashore near Neah Bay, WA will get to the U.S. faster. He says that if the items ride high in the water, are lightweight and have a lot of area exposed to wind, they can travel up to 20 miles per hour. That means some items from Japan could begin landing on beaches as early as next year.
Ebbesmeyer believes the debris landing area will be more spread out than predicted. He thinks beaches from southern Alaska to California will see personal items from broken Japanese lives.
And at a December 13 meeting he said, “All debris should be treated with a great reverence and respect.”
He adds, “As of December 30, 2011, beachcombers reported more than 23 buoys from 17 locations scattered between central Oregon to Kodiak Alaska. He even says that a woman named Jody Godoy traced the writing on one buoy to an oyster farm along the tsunami-ravaged coast.
Ebbesmeyer is a retired oceanographer who has tracked ice bergs, oil from the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska and sewage outflow into Washington state’s Puget Sound. But he is known as the founder of Beachcombers Alert where he and his team track things that float, including tennis shoes, rubber duckies and messages in bottles.
