Donovan Hohn tells the unusual true story of where 28,800 plastic animals (including rubber ducks) ended up after spilling from a freighter in the north Pacific in 1992.
The Orbison data indicate that flocks of toys completed four orbits of the Gyre. The first (2 years) may be faster than the latter three (4, 3, 3 years), because the toys developed holes but continued floating full of water buoyed by the low specific gravity of their plastic.
Historic MIBs — Messages In Bottles — provide confirmation of the Gyre’s orbital period as evident in the Orbison time series. In the 1950s, into the Gulf of Alaska Canadian oceanographers hurled 33,869 MIBs in 12-ounce brown beer bottles. Twelve drifted around the Gyre in 1.9-4.2 years, matching the interval between the Orbison peaks (2-4 years). The toys, plus MIBs, provide twenty estimates, indicating the mean time to orbit the Gyre equals 2.9 years. As to speed, the mean orbital period equates to 6.9 miles per day over the 6,800-mile course around the Gyre.
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