NOAA Confirms, Hawaii Tsunami Debris From Japan

A large plastic bin is the first confirmed piece of marine debris from last year's Japan tsunamis to arrive in Hawaii, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday.

Japanese consular officials confirmed that the blue bin found earlier this week floating in the ocean is from Fukushima, said Ben Sherman, a NOAA spokesman in Washington, D.C.

It's the 12th confirmed piece to hit U.S. or Canada waters, he said.

The bin was spotted off Waimanalo, on the southeast coast of Oahu, by Makai Ocean Engineering staff and was retrieved by the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory. Used for transporting seafood, the 4-by-4-foot cube bears the name Y.K. Suisan Co. Ltd., the state Department of Land and Natural Resources said.

Nikolai Maximenko, a University of Hawaii researcher and ocean currents expert who is studying the trajectory of the tsunami debris, said the bin's arrival is consistent with his predictions for when the first pieces would get to Hawaii.

"It came at the right time, according to our model," he said. "But in some sense, it could just be a coincidence."

One million to 2 million tons of debris remain in the ocean, but only 1 to 5 percent of that could reach American and Canadian shorelines, Maximenko has said.

Crabs and barnacles were found on the bin, the state said, along with five local seabirds. Two flew away and three were found dead inside the bin. There were no foreign plant or animal species in or on the bin, which state officials put in quarantine.

Meanwhile, Hawaii fishermen spotted a large dock drifting toward Oahu that may also be tsunami debris. A Maui fisherman climbed on the dock and saw Japanese writing. The 30-feet by 50-feet dock was spotted Wednesday off Molokai, heading toward Oahu.

The Coast Guard was notifying mariners of the debris.

A 165-ton concrete dock torn loose from a Japanese fishing port washed ashore in Newport, Ore., in June.

huffingtonpost.com/green/

Weird Waves Help Model Tsunamis' Destructive Potential

Take a stroll on the beach and you might spot a mini-tsunami – if you know where to look. Once thought to be extremely rare, X- and Y-shaped waves with unusually high peaks regularly appear in ankle-deep water under certain conditions.

The discovery should help improve mathematical models of these non-linear waves, including the larger-scale versions that may give rise to particularly devastating tsunamis.

Linear interaction between ocean waves creates a peak that cannot be greater than the sum of the individual wave heights. But X- and Y-shaped waves are created when two waves hit each other at an angle, causing a non-linear interaction. That means their combined height can be more than the sum of the original peaks.

The existence of these oddly shaped waves had long been predicted by mathematicians studying equations for shallow-water waves. However, their non-linear interactions make it difficult to model the phenomenon without real-world observations, and until recently, such waves had been photographed only once – in the 1970s.

"People thought you might see them once every few years. The surprise is that they occur every day," says Mark Ablowitz, a mathematician at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Wave spotting

Ablowitz first spotted the waves while on holiday with his family in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, in 2009.

"All of a sudden, we hit that few-minute period and we saw them," he says. "My children and my wife saw them, and we were all starting to point. People thought we were crazy."

Since then, Ablowitz has recorded many more examples in Mexico, while his colleague, Douglas Baldwin, has captured them in Los Angeles, California.

The new work shows that X- and Y-shaped waves occur most frequently shortly before or after low tide on flat beaches and that they are more likely to appear near jetties, which help create cross-waves.

Full stem

Detailed observations of these waves could help explain how similar non-linear effects give rise to especially powerful tsunamis.

Not all tsunamis are boosted by wave interactions, but when they are, the results can be catastrophic. For instance, satellite photographs of the 2011 Japanese tsunami show an X-like structure beneath the surface, Ablowitz says.

"In that case, the X was close to the shore, so it didn't have time to develop a full stem," he says. "We know mathematically that a full stem could be up to four times larger. Had it been further away, it could have developed more significantly and been even more devastating."

Simon Boxall of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK, says the new photos and videos offer an alternative view of the interactions behind tsunamis that cannot be achieved artificially.

"It is very difficult to recreate the ocean in the laboratory, so often we're reliant on the real world," he says.

Journal reference: Physical Review E, doi.org/jc9



newscientist.com

U.S., Canada to Receive $6 Million from Japan for Tsunami Debris Cleanup

Debris from the March 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami litters the Beach River area of Alaska's Montague Island in late August 2012.

Japan is pledging to help the United States and Canada cleanup tons of debris that continue to float onto the coasts from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The Japan Daily Press reports Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda pledged $6 million, a million for each of the five states affected and Canada including California, Oregon, Hawaii, Alaska and Washington.

This comes after recent discussions with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

West Coast states have been struggling to pay for the debris removal with only $50,000 provided to help each state from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grants.

The tsunami washed five million tons of debris into the Pacific Ocean, with more than one million tons staying afloat on its journey across the ocean.

While the bulk of the debris has yet to arrive, beaches in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska have already begun to see large pieces of debris wash ashore.

A large dock swept ashore the Oregon coast back in June. Washington state officials weremonitoring a large floating piece of debris off its coast in July.

Other smaller debris including floats, barrels and one errant soccer ball have all been recovered on Alaska's Middleton Island from the tsunami.

examiner.com

By 2013, it's estimated as much as 1.5 million tons of wreckage from Japan's tsunami could reach the U.S. west coast from Alaska all the way to California. John Blackstone spoke with the president of a local conservation group who predicts the clean-up process could take up to six years.

Oregon Coast Cleanup has Added Urgency Because of Tsunami Debris

                                                                                      The tsunami dock at Newport gets dismantled.

That twice-yearly massive undertaking on the Oregon coast – the SOLVE Beach and Riverside Cleanup – happens again on September 22, and this time it's acquired a new urgency because of the Japanese tsunami debris that has started to make landfall this spring. The Fall Beach and Cleanup takes place all over the Oregon coast that day, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., as well as many coastal rivers and inland riverside shores.

SOLVE is asking for volunteers to help scour the miles and miles of accessible Oregon beaches. Volunteers will meet at designated areas before the cleaning begins, obtain the necessary bags and other tools, and then be set loose to pic up stuff off the beaches and rivers. You can register to volunteer or find out more information about participating at SOLVE.org.

This year, the Fall Cleanup is presented by the Oregon Lottery.

"Tsunami debris adds a new spotlight to our efforts," said Tom Koecher, SOLVE Board President. “But our focus also includes all types of marine debris as well as cleanup and restoration work along Oregon's rivers and streams all across the state."

SOLVE has been part of the Oregon Marine Debris Team that was formed this year to deal with the incoming wave of objects. The team also includes Surfrider Foundation, Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition, Oregon Sea Grant and Washed Ashore.

"Taking care of our beautiful beaches and rivers has always been a priority for Oregonians," said Tom. "It's great to see everyone pitching in. This year, with the tsunami in the news, it's even more important."

The meeting points will be different in each town. For instance, those wanting to help scour the Cannon Beach area will meet at the Cannon Beach City Hall on Gower St. Some towns, like Cannon Beach, actually have two meeting areas: the other is the Tolovana Wayside.

Meeting places are set up from Warrenton to Brookings, and include Newport, Depoe Bay, Yachats, Florence, Lincoln City, Oceanside, Netarts, Pacific City, Seaside, Manzanita, Rockaway Beach and more.

Those wanting to help clean river shores inland can also assist. For example, in Beaverton, the meeting place is Salix Park. Other major and minor river areas

If you can't volunteer, you can still make donations to SOLVE to offset the cost of supplies and organization.

Last year, more than 4,500 Oregonians volunteered at nearly 125 sites across Oregon, cleaning up trash and enhancing watershed health. SOLVE has organized and led beach cleanup efforts since 1984. The organization's work has been cited as a national model for volunteer environmental action.

While tsunami debris may be becoming a bigger problem in the coming months, it's still expected that the vast majority of the garbage will be the usual flotsam and jetsam the washes up on the Oregon coast, as well as tons of unsightly regular problems such as cigarette butts, cans and especially plastics.

beachconnection.net

The Tsunami Warning System

The Tsunami Warning System (TWS) in the Pacific, comprised of 26 participating international Member States, has the functions of monitoring seismological and tidal stations throughout the Pacific Basin to evaluate potentially tsunamigenic earthquakes and disseminating tsunami warning information. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) is the operational center of the Pacific TWS. Located near Honolulu, Hawaii, PTWC provides tsunami warning information to national authorities in the Pacific Basin.

Tsunami Warning Centers

As part of an international cooperative effort to save lives and protect property, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service operates two tsunami warning centers. The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center ATWC) in Palmer, Alaska, serves as the regional Tsunami Warning Center for Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, serves as the regional Tsunami Warning Center for Hawaii and as a national/international warning center for tsunamis that pose a Pacific-wide threat. This international warning effort became a formal arrangement in 1965 when PTWC assumed the international warning responsibilities of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System (PTWS). The PTWS is composed of 26 international Member States that are organized as the International Coordination Group for the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific.

Tsunami Watch and Warning Determination

The objective of the PTWS is to detect, locate, and determine the magnitude of potentially tsunamigenic earthquakes occurring in the Pacific Basin or its immediate margins. Earthquake information is provided by seismic stations operated by PTWC, ATWC, the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center and international sources. If the location and magnitude of an earthquake meet the known criteria for generation of a tsunami, a tsunami warning is issued to warn of an imminent tsunami hazard. The warning includes predicted tsunami arrival times at selected coastal communities within the geographic area defined by the maximum distance the tsunami could travel in a few hours. A tsunami watch with additional predicted tsunami arrival times is issued for a geographic area defined by the distance the tsunami could travel in a subsequent time period.

If a significant tsunami is detected by sea-level monitoring instrumentation, the tsunami warning is extended to the entire Pacific Basin. Sea-level (or tidal) information is provided by NOAA's National Ocean Service, PTWC, ATWC, university monitoring networks and other participating nations of the PTWS. TheInternational Tsunami Information Center, part of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, monitors and evaluates the performance and effectiveness of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System. This effort encourages the most effective data collection, data analysis, tsunami impact assessment and warning dissemination to all TWS participants.

Tsunami Warning Dissemination

Tsunami watch, warning, and information bulletins are disseminated to appropriate emergency officials and the general public by a variety of communication methods.

• Tsunami watch, warning and information bulletins issued by PTWC and ATWC are disseminated to local, state, national and international users as well as the media. These users, in turn, disseminate the tsunami information to the public, generally over commercial radio and television channels.
• The NOAA Weather Radio System, based on a large number of VHF transmitter sites, provides direct broadcast of tsunami information to the public.
• The US Coast Guard also broadcasts urgent marine warnings and related tsunami information to coastal users equipped with medium frequency (MF) and very high frequency (VHF) marine radios.
• Local authorities and emergency managers are responsible for formulating and executing evacuation plans for areas under a tsunami warning. The public should stay-tuned to the local media for evacuation orders should a tsunami warning be issued. And, the public should NOT RETURN to low-lying areas until the tsunami threat has passed and the "all clear" is announced by the local authorities.

Invasive Species from Fukushima Tsunami Washing up on U.S. Shores

Japan's tsunami-caused nuclear disaster at the Fukushima energy complex in March 2011, in which three atomic reactors were heavily damaged, continues to wreak havoc on ecosystems - in the U.S.

The latest danger emanating from the Fukushima complex to hit our shores came not in the form of irradiated tuna, but in the form of a boxcar-sized piece of floating dock which washed ashore along a sandy Oregon beach earlier this month. The find initially excited some beachcombers, reports said, but scientists quickly began to worry that such debris was quickly becoming a whole new way to transport invasive species - crabs, seaweed and other marine organisms - to U.S. waters, further harming West Coast marine environments, The Associated Press reported.

Worse, scientists and marine biologists suspect more species could be hitching a ride to our shores as more tsunami debris arrives in the coming months.

"We know extinctions occur with invasions," John Chapman, assistant professor of fisheries and invasive species at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center, told AP. "This is like arrows shot into the dark. Some of them could hit a mark."

Mitten crabs, spartina, shellfish all cause problems here - though they came from far away

Indeed. While international trade has meant that marine invasion to the West Coast has been occurring since the late 1860s, the global economy has greatly accelerated the process. So much so that now, there are areas like San Francisco Bay which amount to a "global zoo" of invasive species, where as many as 500 plants and animals from waters afar have established in U.S. waters.

The species can attach themselves to the hulls of cargo ships and the water some vessels take on as ballast, but have also come from home aquariums that have been emptied into bays.

Not only have the species upset marine ecosystems, but there are staggering costs associated with the phenomenon as well, in tens of billions of dollars.

"Mitten crabs from China eat baby Dungeness crabs that are one of the region's top commercial fisheries. Spartina, a ropey seaweed from Europe, chokes commercial oyster beds. Shellfish plug the cooling water intakes of power plants. Kelps and tiny shrimp-like creatures change the food web that fish, marine mammals and even humans depend on," the AP reported.

If anything, the Fukushima disaster will only make matters worse, since the problem has been growing for years. A 2004 study published by the scientific journal Ecological Economic, for example, estimated then that some 400 threatened and endangered species in the U.S. were facing wipe-out due to invasive species.

That said, scientists admit it's too early to tell how badly Japan's tsunami debris will worsen the situation already here in the U.S.

"It may only introduce one thing," Andrew Cohen, director of the Center for Research on Aquatic Bioinvasions in Richmond, Calif., said. "But if that thing turns out to be a big problem, we would rather it not happen. There could be an economic impact, an ecological impact, or even a human health impact."

Johnny Clamseed

Reports said the dock that washed ashore in Oregon came from a fishing port located on Japan's northern tip. It was strewn with a ton-and-a-half of mussels, seaweed, barnacles and starfish. AP reported that volunteers scraped it clean then buried it above the high water line and sterilized the rest with torches.

Some experts said, however, that despite the cleaning, there was no way to tell yet whether the scrap had released spores, larvae or anything else that could spawn and grow somewhere along the coast.

"That's the 'Johnny Clamseed' approach," James Carlton, professor of marine sciences at Williams College, said, a reference to John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, who introduced apple trees to parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana in the 19th century. "While that is theoretical, we don't actually know if that kind of thing happens."

Yet, scientists say they do know that the bigger the debris, the more likely it is bringing something along for the ride.

More debris continues to wash ashore along U.S. beaches - so much so that state officials are beginning to make appeals to Washington for help. This week, Washington state Gov. Chris Gregoire announced plans for her state to begin clean-up efforts but said federal help would be needed.

"We don't have the resources at the state level to do what we're going to have to do here," she said.

NaturalNews.com

Japan Animal Tsunami Warning System Involves Pets' 'Sixth' Sense

Japan is considering a tsunami warning system that involves analyzing the erratic behavior of animals as a predictor of incremental weather conditions.

In the past, long before officials were able to predict a coming natural disaster, animals have often fled to safety. It is believed the animals may have more acute senses that allow them to feel the vibration of the earth long before the actual incident occurs.

Yoshihito Myojin, the deputy mayor of Susaki, which lies on Japan's coast, is now considering using the animals' sort of sixth sense as a tool for predicting when a tsunami might occur.

"They may not foretell a future disaster in a perfectly accurate manner, but the most important is to analyse such data thoroughly," Myojin said according to a regional broadcaster last month.

Before a large tsunami struck Sri Lanka in 2005, a number of animals began to act strangely and seek cover.

"Elephants screamed and ran for higher ground, dogs refused to go outdoors, flamingos abandoned their low-lying breeding areas, and zoo animals rushed into their shelters and could not be enticed to come back out," the National Geographic reported.

 

Just before the Japan tsunami occurred in April of this year, a number of people also reported erratic animal behavior. Some animals sought out higher shelter while others became anxious or distressed.

Geologist James Berkland told PBS during a television interview that he has been accurately predicting earthquakes for the past 31 years; his method involves looking through the lost pet ads. According to Berkland, the number of pets that go missing dramatically spikes just before a storm hits. In 1989 Berkland successfully predicted the World Series Quake, reporting it to the local paper days before the disaster occurred.

Japan may now utilize a similar tactic, in addition to monitoring drops in water levels at wells.

Written by Brittney R. Villalva@The Christian Post. Asia