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This figure shows the probable pathways of the debris that entered the ocean on March 11, 2011. Credit: Nikolai Maximenko, IPRC
MANOA, Hawaii -- The huge tsunami triggered by the 9.0 Tohoku Earthquake destroyed coastal towns near Sendai in Japan, washing such things as houses and cars into the ocean. Projections of where this debris might head have been made by Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner at the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Maximenko has developed a model based on the behavior of drifting buoys deployed over years in the ocean for scientific purposes.
What this model predicts about the tsunami debris can be seen in Figure 1. The debris first spreads out eastward from the Japan Coast in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. In a year, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument will see pieces washing up on its shores; in two years, the remaining Hawaiian islands will see some effects; in three years, the plume will reach the US West Coast, dumping debris on Californian beaches and the beaches of British Columbia, Alaska, and Baja California. The debris will then drift into the famous North Pacific Garbage Patch, where it will wander around and break into smaller and smaller pieces. In five years, Hawaii shores can expect to see another barrage of debris that is stronger and longer-lasting than the first one. Much of the debris leaving the North Pacific Garbage Patch ends up on Hawaii's reefs and beaches.
These model projections will help to guide clean-up and tracking operations. Tracking will be important in determining what happens to different materials in the tsunami debris, for example, how the composition of the debris plume changes with time, and how the winds and currents separate objects drifting at different speeds.
Even before the tsunami, the World Ocean was a dump for rubbish flowing in from rivers, washed off beaches, and jettisoned from oil and gas platforms and from fishing, tourist, and merchant vessels. Marine debris has become a serious problem for marine ecosystems, fisheries, and shipping. The presentations given at the recent week-long 5th International Marine Debris Conference in Hawaii, at which Maximenko had organized a day-long workshop, are a testimony to the magnitude of the ocean debris problem. The massive, concentrated debris launched by the devastating tsunami is now magnifying the hazards.
Maximenko's long-standing work on ocean currents and transports predicted that there are five major regions in the World Ocean where debris collects if it is not washed up on shores or sinks to the ocean bottom, deteriorates, or is ingested by marine organisms. These regions turn out to be "garbage patches." The North Pacific Garbage Patch has become famous, the North Atlantic Patch was fixed some years ago, and the South Atlantic, South Indian Ocean, and South Pacific patches have just been found, guided by the map of his model that shows where floating marine debris should collect.
An animation can be viewed at the IRPC website.
Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of UnderwaterTimes.com, its staff or its advertisers.
Reader Comments
2 people have commented so far.Wow! I got an answer to my question which had come in my mind about: what happens to the huge mass that was pulled in that vortex! Great study. I still think about what happens to the remnants of the debris that accumulated on the garbage patches? Can the material be recycled?
comment# 1 - Dr. Rujuta Vinod · Pune, Maharashtra, India · Apr 7, 2011 @ 6:41am
when i heard about this horrible thing, i was shock. i couldn"t belive it. i work in this program call THE HELP PLACE FOR YOU & YOUR FAMILY. so me and my coke workers decide to help the people in need. we help into buling houses new stores and we also gave homes in meanwhile when we were in progess. we stay there untill every single thing was built again. AND the BEST part is that we did everything for love and for free. i was happy that japan was bulit again. love: MELODY & THE HELP PLACE FOR YOU & YOUR FAMILY
comment# 2 - MELODY · SAN DIEGO CA · Jul 18, 2012 @ 5:39pm