US deals with debris from Japan earthquake and tsunami

Nature : A meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was not the only aftereffect of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011. The event also released some 1.5 million tons of debrisâmdash;including pieces of boats, buoys, and concrete docksâmdash;into the Pacific Ocean, which has been carrying pieces as far as the North American coast. The wreckage that is washing up in such places as Oregon and Washington State carries potentially invasive species of algae, barnacles, and shrimp-like creatures, many of them not only surviving the 8000-km voyage but remaining reproductively active. If they succeed in establishing themselves in the Pacific Northwest, they could displace native species. Nevertheless, the event has presented scientists with “an unparalleled scientific opportunity,” according to Susan Williams of the University of California, Davis: Biologists have been able to track a potential species invasion from the beginning. In addition, oceanographers have been using the debris sightings to study winds and currents, and marine ecologists have been using radioisotopes released from Fukushima to trace fish migrations.