On 10 January 1992 a container of 28,800 plastic bath toys went overboard from a container ship in a winter storm near the Date Line. Ten months later the first ones washed up near Sitka, Alaska. This is a drift simulation: 28,800 virtual ducks, one for every toy, start at the spill point and drift with the daily surface current, plus about 3% of the wind pushing on the floating toy. The first simulated duck reaches the shore on day 320; the real first finds near Sitka came on day 311. After two years most of the simulated ducks are ashore in British Columbia and southeast Alaska. Current and wind records do not go back to 1992, so the currents and winds of 1995 and 1996 are used, the first years with both on record.
Source: Currents: E.U. Copernicus Marine Service, GLORYS global reanalysis (GLOBAL_MULTIYEAR_PHY_001_030) at 1/3°. Winds: Copernicus satellite winds (WIND_GLO_PHY_L4_MY_012_006). Drift computed by The Moving Sea
Free for personal and educational use with credit to The Moving Sea. For commercial use, contact [email protected].