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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Tons of tsunami debris moving toward Hawaii
2011-10-25
Televisions, fridges and furniture pieces are heading for Hawaii, as a huge amount of debris from Japan's earthquake sails across the Pacific. Up to 20 million tons of debris from the earthquake in March is traveling faster than expected and could reach the U.S. West Coast in three years.
Three years?!? Quick -- duck and cover!!!
A Russian ship's crew spotted the debris - which included a 20ft long fishing boat - last month after passing Midway Island.

Experts have revised predictions to say the debris will now reach Midway by winter and Hawaii in less than two years.
Abandon island! Abandon island!!1!1!
Crew members on the Russian training ship STS Pallada spotted the debris 2,000 miles from Japan, including a fishing boat from Fukushima, reported AFP.'They saw some pieces of furniture, some appliances, anything that can float - and they picked up a fishing boat,' Mr Hafner told KITV. A crew member told AFP: 'We keep sighting things like wooden boards, plastic bottles, buoys from fishing nets [small and big ones], an object resembling a wash basin, drums, boots, other wastes. We also sighted a TV set, fridge and a couple of other home appliances.'
Posted by:tu3031

#5  This reminds me of the Pacific's famous garbage patch. A lot of talk, but it seems that every picture turns out to be of some garbage dumped somewhere else.

I suspect the Russian ship dumped a lot of garbage and were spotted near the location and came up with cover story.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2011-10-25 21:59  

#4  A TV and a refrigerator are still floating after 2000 miles?!

You'd think they'd be embryonic coral reefs by now.
Posted by: Barbara   2011-10-25 14:07  

#3  Cheaper? I kind of doubt that - the fuel & labor costs to get a ship out & back to the garbage patch must be very high. Some of the floating debris will rot or sink before it can make landfall.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2011-10-25 11:36  

#2  I wonder why nobody has ever come up with a flotsam harvester? A ship somewhat like a kelp harvester, but designed to methodically reduce large amounts of naval hazard flotsam.

I gather it wouldn't have worked with the great "plastic island" in the ocean, as most of that plastic was just a fraction of an inch in size. But for something like this Japanese tsunami flotsam, it would be a heck of a lot cheaper to police it up at sea than when it lands on beaches.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2011-10-25 11:06  

#1  The creepiest things are the human feet in floating shoes....
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2011-10-25 01:03  

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