Old flip flops, plastic toys, bags, children's pacifiers, toothbrushes, tons of plastic bottles and even whole yachts are just some of the rubbish floating in the so-called 'great pacific garbage patch'.You can see the garbage's shipping schedule in the above map, which is color-coded by year. It was created by a NOAA researcher named (no joke) J. Churnside using a modeling program called the Ocean Surface Current Simulator. FYI, if you're ever out sailing or walking the beach and happen to spot some ocean-faring debris, there's an app you can use to report it to government scientists. It's fun for the whole family!
The tsunami last March generated more than 25 million tonnes of debris, say researchers at the University of Hawaii. Between four and eight million tonnes were washed into the ocean, with one to two million tonnes still floating on the surface.
A Japanese fishing boat lost in the Pacific Ocean after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami was sighted March 20, 2012 drifting 150 nautical miles off the southern coast of Haida Gwaii near British Columbia, Canada by the crew of an aircraft on a routine surveillance patrol. (AP Photo/Canadian Department of National Defence via The Canadian Press)'via Blog this'
But even more grisly are the predictions of U.S. oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who is expecting human feet, still in their shoes, to wash up on the West Coast within three years.'I'm expecting parts of houses, whole boats and feet in sneakers to wash up,' Mr Ebbesmeyer, a Seattle oceanographer who has spent decades tracking flotsam, told MailOnline.
Several thousand bodies were washed out to sea following the disaster and while most of the limbs will come apart and break down in the water, feet encased in shoes will float, Mr Ebbesmeyer said.
'I'm expecting the unexpected,' he added.
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______________________Reference
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17500008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1374520/Japan-earthquake-tsunami-debris-floating-US-West-Coast.html#ixzz1rABeF6RD
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