Texas-sized debris island from Japanese tsunami headed for the U.S.

A floating island of debris the size of Texas has been crossing the vast Pacific Ocean to the western shores of the Americas since a devastating tsunami inundated Japan in 2011, says a new study.
Five million tons of wreckage - the remains of homes, boats, and other remnants of shattered lives in eastern Japan - were swallowed by the ocean that day in March, and more than one million tons of flotsam continues to head towards the west coast of the US.
While the first documented debris from the tragedy has already been found in California, scientists fear these new findings mean there could be a lot more to come and it might arrive all at once.

Since I have little trouble writing english (no trouble reading it though) here's the link:
Ts unami debris

America, The land of the "free" home of the "brave" and now land of the mobile home turned boat.

reply to post by sweeper84


It's probably going to want amnesty when it gets here.

On the other hand we could put up border signs saying:

"This way to Texas 2" ---> --->

eta - From what I could tell from the picture it didn't really look like much though.

reply to post by Bassago

From what I could tell from the picture it didn't really look like much though.

Yeah it's not really a texas-sized island loll

I find it a bit hard to believe there is that much debris.

Texas 268,581 sq mi

I know that sometimes americans have trouble with geography and all that but,... do you actually know how big texas is? I mean... an "island of debris" the "size of texas"... lol... that would be pretty catastrophic when it reached mainland... it wouldnt be something you'd just talk about in the news "just like that - oh theres an island of debris the size of texas approaching" ... That would be a f# calamity!

The world is getting crazier by the minute...

sweeper84

Since I have little trouble writing english (no trouble reading it though)

Thanks for the news, I agree they do sensationalize the story a bit in the title.
However the simulation seems to be fairly reasonable, albeit hypothetical.

Also to help you with English, I think what you said is very interesting in terms of language construction.
I will help since this one's complicated.

"I have little trouble writing English" actually means "I am very good at English".
"I have a little trouble writing English" means " You have trouble writing sometimes".

Interesting isn't it? By simply missing the letter-word "A" you reversed the meaning of the statement by accident.

I don't know if this is a reliable source, but if its true, that means that it takes about 2 years for debris to cross the pacific and reach the west coast...according to this, we can assume that west coast will suffer from fukushima in 2015 approx.

It could be spread out within the same area size as Texas. The pic doesn't have to show it all does it? There is a graphic underneath which shows how big they believe it to be. If I take a picture of my toe do you all believe that I am just a typing toe? lol

reply to post by muzzleflash

"I have little trouble writing English" actually means "I am very good at English".
"I have a little trouble writing English" means " You have trouble writing sometimes".

ok so the first one is like: I don't have much trouble writing in english.

thanks for the info, but, when I'm writing in english I don't think of all those little differences...
guess I will have to pay more attention...

we are expecting alot on the coast of b.c., i think stuff washes in from time to time.
a harley davidson ended up on one of our beaches and was matched to an owner in japan, a local harley dealer here fixed it up and sent it back to him.. i should add i think the bike may have been in a shipping container that washed up..cool story but it a real mess out there

Given Japan is more than 100,000 sq mi smaller then Texas, it would have to be the debris from a large portion of Japan completely wiped out..

reply to post by sweeper84


Oh wow more Japanese imports does this mean garbage workers are going to be put out of business because of cheap imports?

reply to post by vonclod


What a great story - fixing up his bike and shipping it. Imagine if we could return everything like that. What a show of altruism. They will clean it up. They know it's there so won't let it kill our West Coast.

I think it is possible this thing is the size of Texas. I mean think about how much crap everyone has in their houses! I know my grandmother could easily have a debris field the size of Texas if her place was ever wiped out by a tsunami! J/K but seriously she has a ton of crap in her place stacked on top of each other etc...

Too bad this wasn't the sixties or seventies. The young people would have nice shacks lining the beach and bonfires every night for a couple of years. They'd secure the docks and set up camp. There would be little left to haul to the dump

reply to post by Dianec

They will clean it up. They know it's there so won't let it kill our West Coast.

Well that's good to know. I just wonder why they've let it all drift about for two & a half years?
Seems like it would have been easier to 'scoop up' before it dispersed/sunk/drifted for all that time.
I know they had a lot going on with Fukushima issues, but it's not like everyone was working on that.
Just seems like it would have been a bit easier to carry out, if they'd done it early on.

Anybody got any ideas on why the 2 & 1/2 year delay?

Free firewood? There was a free ship why did it sink? I thought there was some kind of salvage law. Amazed no one towed it into Alaska as salvage. It just sunk right there. Yeah here it is, it's called marine salvage.

Marine salvage is the process of recovering a ship, its cargo, or other property after a shipwreck. Salvage encompasses towing, refloating a sunken or grounded vessel, or patching or repairing a ship. Today the protection of the environment from cargoes such as oil or other contaminants is often considered a high priority.

en.wikipedia.org...

With everyone trying to make a buck in Alaska I am perplexed as to why this ship was not towed.

Radioactive debris? Not a good picture.

reply to post by sweeper84


That part of the Pacific has been known to accumulate drifting waste for years. Of course some tsunami debris ended up there.

en.wikipedia.org...