Almost a year after the Japanese Tohoku earthquake and mega-tsunami, the Pacific Ocean is still dealing with the consequences of the catastrophe.

In remembrance of the 3/11 diaster, there will be no Fun Link Friday today. Instead, we suggest you take a look at this humbling animated representation of how the Tohoku earthquake/tsunami debris field has spread since March 2011. It is indescribable to see in motion.

See the video at the original article here.

The International Pacific Research Center’s (IPRC) scientific computer programmer Jan Hafner stated, “So far, the debris field has spread in length more than 2,000 nautical miles, and is more than 1,000 nautical miles wide.” It is estimated that the earthquake and tsunami created  20 million tonnes (about 22 million tons) of debris, a small amount of which is projected to reach the US west coast in a year or two.

The IPRC continues to update their forecasts of the debris travel daily on their website here. For the full article on the IPRC’s work mapping the debris flow, click here.