An estimated 5 million to 20 million tons of debris sucked into the ocean during Japan’s massive tsunami in March 2011 is due to hit Hawaiʻi in 2013 and the West Coast in 2014, according to University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa scientists.
Nikolai Maximenko, a senior researcher at UH Mānoa’s International Pacific Research Center, and scientific computer programmer Jan Hafner, developed a computer model of ocean currents earlier this year to speculate where the debris might end up. Now, valuable sightings of the debris are being reported by sailing ships from area where the model predicted.
For more about the successful computer modeling developed by Maximenko and Hafner, read the stories in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, TIME, or read the UH news release.
