A K LEO
MONDAY, OCT. 31 to TUESDAY, NOV. 1, 2011 VOLUME 106 ISSUE 42
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Japan tsunami debris floating toward Hawai‘i as predicted EMI A IKO Associate News Editor
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NATALIA BORODINA/STS PALLADA
Russian training ship STS Pallada picked up a Japanese fishing boat in waters between Japan and Midway Atoll on Sept. 22. Other items found include woden boards, plastic bottles and various home appliances.
S I MU L AT I O N O F T S U N A M I DEBRIS: http://tinyurl.com/3z6e796
TSUNAMI DEBRIS T R AC E R: http://tinyurl.com/42asrg8
Fishing boats, fridges and televisions are among garbage tele sailing across the Pacifi c from Jasail pan’s pan March 11 tsunami. Approximately 5 to 20 million tons ton of debris will be hitting Hawaiian shores in 2013, according wai to the researchers at the International Pacific Research Center nat at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Soon after the earthquake hit Japan, Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner of IPRC began working on predicting the trajectory of the debris, since it can threaten small ships and coastlines. “Hawai‘i will be receiving a large amount of unusual types of debris. [It’s] unfortunate for [the] location, but we hope and plan to use the model for the cleanup operation,” said Hafner. Maximenko, an oceanographer and the principal researcher of the project at the IPRC, based his model on the movements of 18,000 buoys placed in the ocean over 30 years for the purpose of studying currents, and developed a computer model of how the tsunami debris is likely to move across the ocean. According to the computer prediction, the debris from the tsunami will reach Midway Atoll this winter, and will reach Hawai‘i in the winter or spring of 2013. Then, in the beginning of 2014, the debris will hit the coasts of Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Canada, and will come back to Hawai‘i in 2016. Warned by the IPRC scientists’ model, Russian ship the STS Pallada recently found an array of tsu-
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nami debris 2,000 miles long and 1,000 miles wide located between Japan and Midway Atoll, including a fishing boat from Fukushima. Many of the pieces could wash up in January, and it is unknown how much debris has already sunk and what portion is still floating. Maximenko and Hafner have been researching surface ocean currents since 2009. They applied their research using computer models to track down the path of the debris, but not until this direct observation from the Russian ship was it verified that the debris appears to be moving according to Maximenko and Hafner’s predictions. “It is good to know that we are on the right track ... but it was an eerie feeling,” said Hafner, when he first heard from the Russian ship’s crew members. “Any piece of information through direct observation will help us with the model.” Although the earthquake that devastated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is considered one of the worst nuclear accidents since Chernobyl, it is highly unlikely the tsunami-generated debris is contaminated with radioactive material, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s marine debris program. Japanese authorities are currently trying to trace the owners of the fi shing boat that was swept out from the Fukushima region. Meanwhile, scientists want boaters to send them details of the debris if they are in the area. “Our model might be helpful to do cleanup service, as well as to expect to know when tons of debris will come,” said Hafner.
Report
FEATURES
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OPINIONS
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COMICS
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SPIDER-MAN, DRACULA AND A BUSINESS MINOR The newest from Ka Leo comic artists
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