LOS ANGELES, CA (CBS) - It's been nearly ten months since Japan's devastating tsunami. Much of the debris from the disaster ended up in the Pacific and ocean currents have been driving some of it toward the U.S. Now, some experts believe it's starting to wash up on the West Coast.
The scale of the tsunami damage was epic; millions of tons of debris littered the Japanese landscape but also littered the ocean.
Entire homes, cars, boats, the fabric of people's lives, washed out to sea last March. No one knows exactly how much, but what scientists do know is that the prevailing winds and currents may carry some of that debris to the West Coast of the United States.
Dr. Curt Ebbesmeyer says, "We're at the beginning of the beginning."
Oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer says the first wave is already here, mostly Japanese fishing buoys washed ashore between Oregon and Alaska. The rest he says remains in a huge floating debris field.
Beach combers say they're surprised. Nancy Rose says, "I thought it was going to be months before it even hit Hawaii."
Some scientists are skeptical, saying there is indeed floating wreckage from Japan, but NOAA says it can find no evidence that it's in a massive clump heading our way.
It's not that they doubt debris is washing ashore, but proving it's connected to the tsunami is difficult at best. Peter Jackson is with N.O.A.A. and says, "Marine debris is a problem that's already been impacting the world's oceans for years, and will probably continue to do so, so the tsunami added potentially a significant amount of debris to that problem, but fingerprinting it back is challenging."
Scientists do agree on one thing: the non-decomposing materials like plastic that the tsunami dragged out to sea will probably wander the oceans for years; an ever present reminder of the power of nature.
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