Projections of what will happen to the debris have been made by Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa‘s International Pacific Research Center, shown in the animated image above.
The 2,000-mile-long debris field from the March tsunami in Japan is expected to reach beaches in Hawaii next winter and hit Washington state’s coast starting in late 2013.
Yet U.S. authorities can’t say yet how much of the massive flotsam will sink as it swirls through the North Pacific gyre and how much will wash ashore. They are pretty certain it won’t be radioactive — requiring special disposal — but don’t know for sure.
Sen. Maria Cantwell says the United States better prepare for whatever crosses the Pacific Ocean.