When the Tohoku tsunami struck the northeast coast of Japan last March, retreating waves swept an estimated 5 million tons of debris out to sea. About 70 percent is believed to have sunk to the seafloor, leaving about 1.5 million tons floating, adrift somewhere on the Pacific Ocean. The animation above from NASA’s Earth Observatory was created using data from Surface Currents from Diagnostic (SCUD) model to simulate where and how the debris would disperse. Read More
