20M Tons of Tsunami Debris Heads for US Shores

Debris from the massive tsunami that struck Japan in March is on its way: Up to 20 million tons of trash, like "confetti soup," is slowly drifting across the Pacific Ocean and heading toward the United States, reports the LA Times. Already garbage has been found 2,000 miles from Japan. The first of it is expected to hit Midway Atoll this winter, then Hawaii in early 2013, and then the US west coast—mainly Washington and Oregon—in early 2014.

The model of how things drift across the Pacific was made by a Hawaii-based scientist using 30 years of data, and so far, based on debris discovered by Russian sailors, the tsunami drift appears to be on track. What can sink has mostly sunk already, notes a scientist, so the rest will just keep coming. (More tsunami stories.)