A massive dock that landed this week on Agate Beach more than a year after the Japan tsunami ripped it from its moorings is raising all kinds of questions about how to dismantle it and what to do with countless organisms that hitched a ride onboard.We'll start seeing this stuff all along the West Coast and we can't assume it's all benign. There are going to be some problems, that's for sure.
But none of the questions is quite so vexing as this: How does something 66 feet long by 19 feet wide by 7 feet tall float thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean without anyone seeing it?
"I find it extremely odd that something this large could cross the ocean and not be spotted by anybody given the sophisticated equipment and all the attention that is supposed to be focused on this debris," said Tom Towslee, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden's office.
The Oregonian’s continuing coverage of tsunami damage along the Oregon Coast."This should be a warning to everybody that this stuff is coming a lot faster than we thought it was. There are obviously things in the ocean that are a danger to shipping. This is a vanguard," Towslee said. "It's starting and at least nine months ahead of schedule as far as I can tell."
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Japanese Floating Dock Shows Up on Oregon Beach
The Japanese tsunami swept a lot of stuff out to sea and now the currents are bringing that stuff to America:
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2 comments:
1. It's a big ocean.
2. And that ain't the half of it.
3. Ships follow charted routes; flotsam goes where the winds and waves push it. These are not the same. The dock is low enough to be out of sight from a ship in the waves.
4. Satellites are in specific orbits. They don't have someone looking at everything they pass over, nor a computer to do the same.
Lincoln City was in need of a new attraction. Came in free, but the upkeep...
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