published May 24th, 2012 on mothernaturenetwork.com by Russell McLendon
Items washed away by the
2011 tsunami are already arriving in North America, raising fears of an
environmental crisis from Alaska to California.
OUT TO SEA: An aerial view of floating debris from the March
2011 tsunami that struck northern Japan. (Photo: U.S. Navy/AFLO/ZUMA
Press)
The Pacific Ocean is no stranger to litter, thanks to a big maritime mess known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
But for the past 14 months, a different type of debris has been sailing
around the Pacific — not the familiar bits of plastic found in the
garbage patch, but some 5 million tons of detritus that washed offshore
after the deadly Japanese earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.
Most of that tsunami debris
sank to the seabed, according to scientists at the U.S. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But about 1.5 million tons kept
floating east, and now nobody knows how much is approaching North
America — not to mention what it is or when it will arrive. NOAA's computer models
predict some will reach Hawaii this winter, approach the U.S. West
Coast and Canada in 2013, and then circle back to Hawaii between 2014
and 2016. But as the agency points out, it's "very difficult to predict" how a mass of random objects will behave in the open ocean.
In fact, some of the debris is showing up ahead of schedule. In April 2012 alone, a Japanese teen's soccer ball washed ashore in Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard sank a floating "ghost ship" from Hokkaido, and a motorcycle with Japanese plates emerged on a Canadian beach. According to south Alaska's Homer Tribune,
"massive amounts of debris" are scattered over at least 50 miles of
beaches, including wall insulation, oil and gas canisters, fishing nets
and Styrofoam buoys. A new cleanup effort on nearby Montague Island aims to remove 40 tons of tsunami debris in coming weeks.
While it pales in comparison to the disaster that sent it there, some
worry all this debris could pose environmental dangers for the U.S. and
Canada, possibly even on par with an oil spill. "This is more hazardous
than oil," Chris Pallister of the Gulf of Alaska Keeper Organization
tells the Homer Tribune. "Entire communities went into the ocean —
industrial, household chemicals, anything you can think of in your
garage — and it's all coming here. This is like a great big toxic spill
that is widely dispersed."
NOAA is more reticent in its outlook, noting that the lack of a unified
"debris field" makes it hard to forecast where the objects will go. But
dispersal doesn't necessarily negate the danger — NOAA warns against
"picking up debris you are not well equipped and trained to handle,"
like sharp objects and oil drums, and adds that even lone objects can
hinder ship traffic or damage coral reefs. Some items may still be
clustered, too, especially if they're sealed in boxes, drums or shipping
containers.
Below is a map of where NOAA thinks the debris was located as of May
15, 2012, based on computer models that consider the objects' point of
origin as well as historical ocean currents and wind speeds (click map
to enlarge):
This map comes with a caveat, though: "Conditions in the ocean
constantly change, and items can sink, break down and disperse across a
huge area," NOAA explains. "Because it is not known what remains in the
water column nor where, scientists can't determine with certainty if any
debris will wash ashore."
The mystery is largely due to sparse details about the debris, since
some items are inevitably more seaworthy than others. Many floating
objects are considered "high-windage," with more exposed surface area
that can catch the wind like a ship's sail. Soccer balls and Styrofoam
fit into this category, but so do heavier objects if they're in buoyant
containers. Other debris that drifts underwater or barely breaks the
surface is "low-windage," and will typically take longer to cross the
ocean.
Nonetheless, many people from Alaska to California say tsunami debris
is already flooding in, and they want immediate action. "The time for
talk is over," Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said in a recent statement.
"The prospect of debris coming to our shorelines is not just a theory,
it is here." Begich and other lawmakers have pushed the Obama
administration to allocate emergency funds to study the tsunami debris,
and to reconsider a planned budget cut for NOAA's Marine Debris Program.
"We need something much more elaborate to understand and stop this
debris before it actually reaches our shores," said Sen. Maria Cantwell,
D-Wash., during a May 17 oversight hearing
about the tsunami debris. "Many people said we wouldn't see any of this
impact until 2013 or 2014. And now ships, motorcycles and this various
debris is showing up, and people want answers."
While individual objects may pose serious threats to public and
environmental health, NOAA does offer one positive note: The chance of
radioactive debris washing up anywhere is "highly unlikely."
Much of the tsunami debris didn't come from anywhere near the damaged
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and regardless, the nuclear crisis
began after most of the objects had already washed out to sea.
The enormity and variety of the debris still makes it a threat, though,
and experts emphasize it will continue washing ashore for a long time.
Famed U.S. oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer has said he expects the amount of debris to peak in October, and as the Associated Press reports,
he told the audience at a recent tsunami symposium that about 100
vessels will likely wash up "over the next couple of years," similar to
the 164-foot ghost ship sunk by the U.S. Coast Guard last month.
Yet in a reminder of how manageable such problems are compared with the
tsunami itself — which killed more than 15,000 people across eastern
Japan — Ebbesmeyer also offers a more somber prediction: Human bones
could soon begin washing onto U.S. and Canadian beaches. "That may be
the only remains that a Japanese family is ever going to have of their
people that were lost," he told attendees Monday at the symposium in
Port Angeles, Wash. "We're dealing with things that are of extreme
sensitivity. Emotional content is just enormous. So be respectful."
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