Subject:
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FU to the LEGO spilled in the ocean
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.mediawatch
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Date:
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Tue, 19 Jun 2001 15:37:52 GMT
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Viewed:
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696 times
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http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/27932_seagarb18ww.shtml
Text of article copied below in case this link expires.
John
#388
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Oceanographer tracks sea garbage to measure ocean currents
Monday, June 18, 2001
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
EVERETT -- Forget the buoys and markers. One oceanographer is using Nike
shoes and Lego blocks to measure ocean currents.
Curtis Ebbesmeyer and his partners at Evans and Hamilton Inc., a Seattle
firm, design and manufacture instruments that measure ocean currents.
Until 1990, Ebbesmeyer dropped buoys and drift cards into the sea to track
currents without giving much thought to what the ocean already had adrift.
Each year, millions of items -- everything from running shoes to gumball
dispensers, doll heads to Beanie Babies -- cross the world's oceans aboard
container ships, which each carry an average of 4,500 containers.
But storms and other mishaps cause more than 10,000 containers to fall
overboard and spill their cargo into the ocean every year.
Ebbesmeyer said he realized the ocean was filled with ready-made markers
whose course he could plot from ship to shore.
Shipping companies keep meticulous records. A ship's captain is required to
note where a container went overboard.
Ebbesmeyer said checking the serial number on the insole of a Nike shoe
found washed up on a beach against a ship captain's record can help trace
its route from where it went overboard.
Over the years, Ebbesmeyer has attended beachcomber conferences across the
country to trade information about what's floating on the ocean and what's
landing on the beaches. He also maintains a Web site and a newsletter.
He said that with his knowledge of ocean currents, he often can predict when
and where goods will turn up.
This month, Nike shoes are expected to wash up on Everett's beaches after
falling into the Pacific in December 1999.
Ebbesmeyer said some of items that fall overboard won't wash ashore for 10
years.
Millions of Legos that spilled from three containers in the Atlantic last
year are expected to drift north into the Arctic Ocean and then through the
Northeast Passage, Ebbesmeyer said.
In a few more years, he said they should travel south, and by 2012 they
could land on Alaskan beaches and on Washington shores in 2020.
The most bountiful beaches are in California, Oregon and Washington. In
Puget Sound, Ebbesmeyer said the "1 percent rule" applies -- About 1 percent
of whatever is spilled or floats into the Strait of Juan de Fuca will reach
inland beaches.
"The oil companies don't like me saying this, but if a million gallons of
oil spill in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, 1 percent -- 10,000 gallons -- will
show up in Everett and Puget Sound," he said.
Every beach is different, depending on the current. Ebbesmeyer said items
that wash up in Edmonds may not be found in Everett, just a few miles away.
"They're like restaurants -- some serve Thai food, some Indian or Chinese
food. Some beaches are known for their glass or driftwood or artifacts."
___
On the Net:
www.beachcombers.org
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