Written by Skin
In 1992, a ship sailing in the North Pacific was hit by a storm that washed 12 containers into the ocean. In one of the containers, nearly 30,000 plastic children's bath toys were contained.
Nearly 30,000 plastic toy animals accidentally fell into the sea |! Pixabay
In addition to the familiar little yellow ducks, the toys include red beavers, green frogs and blue turtles.
Plastic animals are very "tenacious", and other items in the container (such as cartons, etc.) are quickly degraded in seawater, but the plastic animals are not damaged. And because they are designed to be porous and can only float on the surface of the water, they begin a long journey to the ocean.
And their story with scientists also quietly unfolds.
The little yellow ducks scattered in the ocean have formed an indissoluble relationship with oceanographers. | Pixabay
Oceanographers Curtis Ebbesmeyer and James Ingraham seized the opportunity. Their research was about modeling ocean currents. In this study, the original method of study was to drop drift bottles into the ocean.
There are many limitations to this method of dropping drift bottles. First, drift bottles can harm the marine environment and marine life, causing pollution and making it difficult to degrade. For example, if a glass bottle is broken and swallowed by seabirds, it will cause unexpected damage.
In the 21st century, many environmental organizations have begun to suggest that when you want to drop drift bottles, it is better to put biodegradable drift cards, or wooden drifters and use non-toxic ink.
If you want to put drift bottles, you can choose a more environmentally friendly alternative. | zhuowang/Flickr
In addition, there are generally 500 to 1,000 drift bottles at a time, but marine life may attach to the bottle, causing the bottle to sink unexpectedly. So even if so many drifting bottles are dropped, you may only be able to pick up 10 to 20 in the end.
In 1992, the storm accidentally dropped nearly 30,000 rubber toys into the ocean. Curtis Ebbesmeyer thought that using these ready-made tools to do research would not only be more convenient, but also get more adequate data.
Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer studies ocean currents through floating objects at sea. | Wiki
Ten months later, the first small plastic animals "came ashore.". Ten toys were found on a beach in Alaska, USA, and a total of 400 were found in the following month. Ebbesmeyer and Indraham documented them in a computer model that simulated ocean surface currents.
Just as nature follows the laws, the seawater in the vast ocean is also moving continuously on a large scale and steadily, which is the ocean current. Ocean currents are influenced by the atmosphere, which in turn plays an important role in climate and natural landscapes around the world.
Ocean currents on the surface of the ocean. | Wiki
For example, the warm Gulf Of Mexico Current transports warmer waters to the Atlantic, making the climate in northwestern Europe milder than in other parts of the same latitude. This current has also led to the development of strong cyclones and has become an important source of renewable energy power generation.
In addition to this, ocean currents have also brought prosperity to fisheries. The formation of the world's four major fisheries is related to ocean currents. Convective currents often form convectives at the confluence of warm currents, rich in seafloor microorganisms that attract large schools of fish, while upwellings bring nutrients to the surface of the sea and form fisheries.
The Zhoushan Fishery, China's largest fishing ground, is also caused by ocean currents. | Graph source network
Ocean currents have been used since a long time ago to shorten the time required for seafaring trips. The adventurer Juan Ponce de León once wrote in his voyage diary: "The water is stronger than the wind." Today, with computer-simulated ocean current models, we can also deduce and predict the motion of floating debris at sea.
For Ebbesmeyer and Inraham, who model ocean currents, the swarm of plastic toys floating on the surface of the sea may have really helped.
Plastic bath toys that people collected at the time. | beachcombersalert.org
After the first toys were recorded, the story is not over. Using current models, oceanographers correctly predicted that one toy would arrive in Washington in 1996, while others would circle the Pacific Ocean and eventually return to Alaska. If they were tenacious enough, they might also cross the Bering Strait to the Arctic, cross the poles, and eventually reach the North Atlantic.
This group of plastic toys "travels" route. | Wiki
Many of these plastic toys have been bleached by sunlight and seawater when they come ashore. At least, though, they've had a long but meaningful journey.
After sunlight and sea wash, the yellow ducks and red beavers have faded. | beachcombersalert.org
To study ocean currents, Ebbesmeyer picked up not only ducks off the coast, but also hockey gloves, bottles, driftwood and even Nike shoes.
In 1990, a ship was also hit by a storm on its way to the United States, blowing containers into the sea. This time, the floating objects scattered in the ocean are 61,000 basketball shoes.
This batch of shoes also drifted ashore with the currents, which were recorded by researchers in the current model. In 2003, John, walking by the sea, picked up two, and although the shoes looked good, they were both on the left and were of different sizes.
John picked up two pairs of Nike shoes on the left. | beachcombersalert.org
However, the person who picks up the shoe may actually be able to match the other one. Because each pair of shoes in this batch has a unique serial number. But more importantly, the shoes also became Ebbesmeyer's tool for monitoring ocean currents, and the serial number was very convenient for scientists to mark.
In any case, although the accidental loss of the cargo at sea caused inevitable losses. But on the other hand, perhaps it also contributes to new methods of research for scientists.
Who would have thought that a pair of shoes could help study ocean currents |? beachcombersalert.org
But it's best not to throw garbage into the ocean.