Alaska News

Debris from Japan tsunami to reach Alaska in a few years

According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, oceanographers at University of Hawaii-Manoa expect Hawaii to bear the main brunt of the massive debris field generated by the tsunami that hit Japan in March, but they say Alaska and the Pacific Northwest also lie in its path. The scientists think that the debris will be caught up in the Pacific Gyre, a circular current encompassing the Pacific Ocean, and expect that a portion of it will add to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area known for accumulating floating garbage in the middle of the gyre. They expect that floating debris will begin to reach Alaska's beaches after at least three years. Read more, here.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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