Thursday, May 24, 2012

Bulk of Japanese tsunami flotsam expected to hit Washington State coast this fall

The bulk of Japan’s post-tsunami flotsam is expected to land on West Coast beaches, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, in the fall, according to an oceanographer.

“In my view, we’re in a six-month countdown to October,” said Curt Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer with Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Wash. to a group of workshop attendees in that area earlier this week.

Ebbesmeyer said the floating debris that was jettisoned into the Pacific Ocean in the aftermath of Japan’s tragic tsunami and earthquake in March 2011 is “going to keep arriving for the next several years.

Ebbesmeyer is co-creator of the Ocean Surface Current Simulator (OSCURS) that utilizes computer modeling to predict the movement and direction of the tsunami debris around the world.

Among the continued debris to hit the West Coast over the next two years in larger numbers would be approximately 100 Japanese vessels varying in length from 20 feet to 150 feet, Ebbesmeyer said.

For the full Peninsula Daily News story: www.peninsuladailynews.com

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