By Curtis Ebbesmeyer, Eric Scigliano
Pioneering oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer unravels the secret of marine currents, uncovers the unbelievable tale of flotsam, and alterations the world's view of trash, the sea, and our international atmosphere. Curtis Ebbesmeyer is not any usual scientist. he is been a consulting oceanographer for multinational enterprises and a lead scientist on foreign study expeditions, yet he is by no means held a standard educational appointment. He seized the world's mind's eye as no different scientist may well while he and his all over the world community of beachcomber volunteers traced the ocean's currents utilizing hundreds of thousands of footwear and plastic bathtub toys spilled from storm-tossed freighters. Now, for the 1st time, Ebbesmeyer tells the tale of his lifelong fight to resolve the sea's mysteries whereas sharing his such a lot wonderful discoveries. He recounts how flotsam has replaced the process history—leading Viking mariners to secure harbors, Columbus to the hot global, and Japan to divulge heart's contents to the West—and the way it may also have made the foundation of lifestyles attainable. He chases icebergs and floating islands; investigates ocean mysteries from ghost ships to a spate of washed-up severed ft on Canadian shorelines; and explores the large floating "garbage patches" and waste-heaped "junk seashores" that gather the flotsam and jetsam of commercial society. eventually, Ebbesmeyer unearths the rhythmic and harmonic order within the big oceanic currents known as gyres—"the heartbeat of the realm "—and the threats that international warming and disintegrating plastic waste pose to the seas . . . and to us.
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Pioneering oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer unravels the secret of marine currents, uncovers the astounding tale of flotsam, and alterations the world's view of trash, the sea, and our worldwide atmosphere. Curtis Ebbesmeyer is not any usual scientist. he is been a consulting oceanographer for multinational companies and a lead scientist on overseas examine expeditions, yet he is by no means held a traditional educational appointment.
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Additional resources for Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man's Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science
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In this relatively calm environment, a snark can survive for weeks, and it can take two years for diffusion to erase the signature of water trapped below the sill depth. Slight variations in density and current produce very different snarks. I have never seen snark shapes repeat themselves; like snowflakes, each one is unique. After one summer chasing snarks, I had what I needed for a dissertation. And I’d gained a new sense of how water works, not just in this little fjord but around the world.
During one of their visits I pulled out a map of the city, scribed a one-mile circle around our home, and said they should buy theirs within it. In 1980, they did—just five blocks north of us. We did find plenty to do. It was like the 1950s again, when Dad and I undertook endless projects. I had lunch with them several times a week— usually a Denver sandwich or creamed eggs on toast—and did chores around their yard, just as I had then. Mom became my clipping service, scanning the newspapers for anything about ocean currents.
Icebergs weren’t the only threat to offshore oil platforms. In the early 1970s, Mobil and other companies were hungry to exploit the rich petroleum deposits discovered under the deep waters of the North Sea, between Britain and Norway. But what sorts of waves would platforms have to withstand there? ” We had none of the oceanographic data needed to support engineering designs. So I coordinated some early studies, which suggested monstrous waves did indeed strike the North Sea—ninety-five feet from trough to crest, an assault only a very large structure could withstand.