How did the fantasy drifting of 28,800 little yellow ducks solve the mystery of ocean currents? It has also become a scientific research tool

The ocean is one of the most mysterious and amazing places on Earth that scientists have yet to fully explore.

For example, the regular horizontal flow of seawater in a certain direction and at a relatively stable speed is called an ocean current, and it was once one of the most mysterious parts.

Scientists have always known that ocean currents exist, but never knew how long it takes to complete a cycle.

It's like knowing there is a planet in the solar system but not being able to tell its orbital period.

Drift bottles have been used to study ocean currents, but their dispersal is usually limited to 1,000 bottles, with a typical recovery rate of about 2%.

Because the recovery rate was not high, the data collected was minimal until 28,800 little yellow ducks were released into the sea.

On January 10, 1992, a storm in the Pacific triggered an unusual study of global ocean currents.

A cargo ship bound for the United States from China was trapped in a storm. Unfortunately, several containers fell into the water, one of which contained 28,800 bath toys produced by a Chinese company.

Each toy box contains a yellow duck, red beaver, green frog and blue turtle. Due to the immersion in salt water, the collision of sea currents and waves, the rubber toys get rid of the constraints of the box and move along the sea surface.

Toys that end up in the ocean by accident represent an opportunity to understand ocean currents, which excites oceanographers. After all, oceanographers who are bound by ethics will never be able to remove tens of thousands of plastic toys in order to protect the environment. Throw it into the ocean.

Therefore, having 28,800 skinny ducks is a boon to scientists, as it may feed back more data.

Ten months after the Leather Duck escape incident, the first batch of Leather Ducks drifted 3,200 kilometers and landed on the coast of Alaska at the end of 1992.

Another year passed, and the second group headed for the east coast of the Gulf of Alaska to land.

Between July 2003 and December 2003, a reward was launched.

Anyone who finds a duck in New England, Canada or Iceland will be rewarded with a $100 savings bond.

Each reported duck went into the Ocean Surface Current Simulation (OSCAR), a computer model created by Ebersmeier and his colleague James Ingraham .

The model combines air pressure data with the speed and direction of weather systems to plot the paths of ocean current indicators, such as nautical rubber ducks.

Using a model they developed, oceanographers correctly predicted where the toys would land in Washington state in 1996 and concluded that many of the remaining ducks would reach Alaska before heading back west Japan, back to Alaska, then drifted north through the Bering Strait and became trapped in Arctic ice floes.

They predict that they will need to follow the ice before the warm climate of the Greenland Sea thaws the ice and releases it, taking five to six years to cross the Arctic ice to the North Atlantic, where it The blocks will melt and release them, eventually making landfall in the UK some 15 years after they first hit the water.

Over the years, ducks and beavers have faded to white under the action of sunlight and sea water, while only turtles and frogs have retained their original colors.

Finally

Like the 61,000 pairs of Nike running shoes lost on a ship in 1990, this time the Leather Duck provides new data for the study of ocean current paths.

Scientists finally know how long it takes ocean currents to complete a cycle - and the correct answer is about three years.

Oceanographers use the duck's journey through the world's oceans to help map the different ocean currents that exist.

By tracking Leather Duck precisely from its starting point, scientists have finally discovered just how big these currents are and exactly how long it takes to complete a circuit.

Not only does this help them understand exactly how water flows around the Earth, it also helps them predict how climate change will affect oceans and marine life.

If the leather duck traveling around the world in a lost container is a blessing for marine science, then garbage other than rubber ducks is a headache for mankind.

Today, we know that there are as many as 11 major gyres in the world's oceans, and all of these gyres are helpers of the world's garbage.

Although no one knows exactly how many containers are lost at sea each year, oceanographers put the number at anywhere from a few hundred to 10,000 per year, a staggering estimate, although still only one part of the global trash problem. Small portion.

Marine science has come a long way since the Leather Duck incident. The duck's job has since been replaced by buoys equipped with GPS tracking devices, which allow researchers to analyze and map the most likely flow paths of plastic waste.

In addition to his scientific contributions, Leather Duck has inspired at least two children's books and has his own documentary.

There is a song called "Yellow Rubber Ducks" to commemorate the duck's journey.

Poet Kei Miller dedicated poetry to the duck, and Disney made a movie about it.

Even the duck itself has soared in value and has become a valuable collector's item, with prices as high as $1,000.

I just want to say that I might as well be a rubber duck.