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Apr. 10, 2009
Flotsametrics
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| What can floating debris teach researchers about the world's oceans? In May of 1990, a Pacific storm knocked five containers filled with thousands of sneakers off a cargo vessel. Almost a year later, the shoes began washing up along the West coast of North America -- and observations of the locations of those shoes helped flesh out detailed maps of ocean currents. We'll talk with the author of a new book about the data to be learned from observing shoes, rubber ducks, and other wayward flotsam. |
Produced by Christopher Intagliata, Associate Senior Producer
Guests
-
Curtis Ebbesmeyer
Oceanographer
Co-Author, "Flotsametrics and the Floating World" (Harper-Collins, 2009)
Seattle, Washington
RELATED READING
Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man's Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science
by Curtis Ebbesmeyer, Eric Scigliano
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