Research vessel sailing through Japan debris field
Posted: Mar 31, 2012 6:43 PM PDT Updated: Mar 31, 2012 10:03 PM PDT
By Jim Mendoza
HONOLULU ( HawaiiNewsNow) - The 72-foot steel hulled research vessel rocked alongside a dock at Kewalo basin. In a week the crew of the Sea Dragon will sail to the Marshall Islands to begin a round trip to Japan to study the debris field generated by the Japan tsunami on March 11, 2011.
"We know that an estimated twenty million tons of rubbish left Japan on that certain day," Sea Dragon program director Emily Penn said.
The vessel will carry scientists, film crews and environmentalists through the heart of the debris field. An estimated one to two million tons remain on the surface from the wall of waste sucked into the ocean.
Penn said the Sea Dragon crew will rely on computer models developed by University of Hawaii researchers to steer them to the debris. When they encounter it, they'll lower a trolling trap into the water.
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