Debris from the devastating tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 has turned up exactly where scientists predicted it would after months of floating across the Pacific Ocean. Finding and confirming where the debris ended up gives them a better idea of where it’s headed next.

The magnitude 9.0 quake and ensuing tsunami that struck off the coast of Tohoku in Japanwas so powerful that it broke off huge icebergs thousands of miles away in the Antarctic, locally altered Earth’s gravity field, and washed millions of tons of debris into the Pacific.

Scientists at the International Pacific Research Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have been trying to track the trajectory of this debris, which can threaten small ships and coastlines. The new sightings should help the scientists predict when the debris, which ranges from pieces of fishing vessels to TV sets, will arrive at sensitive locations, such as marine reserves.

Scientists estimate the debris will wash up on the Hawaii Islands in two years and the U.S. West Coast in three.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44946850/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/japan-tsunami-debris-spotted-course-hit-us/?ocid=ansmsnbc11

41 year old paleoseismologist Masanobu Shishikura was expecting the recent tsunami in Japan.   His studies of ancient earth layers persuaded him that every 450 to 800 years, colliding plates in the Pacific have triggered waves that devastated areas around Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture, as well as in Fukushima Prefecture.  He belives this will occur again in the relatively near future.

Read more here:  http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704101604576248722573203608-lMyQjAxMTAxMDEwMTExNDEyWj.html

Thanks to WRP for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.