Type
Document

Author
NOAA Marine Debris Program

URL
http://ift.tt/1u0Cdg9

Publisher
NOAA Marine Debris Program National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration U.S. Department of Commerce

Date
January 2015

Loc. in Archive
Technical Memorandum NOS-OR&R-51

Abstract
This report synthesizes actions and lessons learned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) and the overall marine debris community through efforts to detect marine debris caused by the tsunami
that struck Japan in March 2011. This tsunami inundated over 217 square miles of coastal Japan and washed an
estimated 5 million tons of debris out to sea as it receded. The Japanese government estimated that 70 percent of
that total sank immediately, leaving 1.5 million tons of Japan tsunami marine debris (JTMD) that broke up and
dispersed over the North Pacific in the months and years following the tsunami.

February 11, 2015 at 02:47PM