In 1992, a container ship lost 28,800 unsinkable plastic bath toys in the North Pacific, turning an ordinary shipping accident into an unexpected scientific experiment. The toys drifted across thousands of kilometres of ocean, with some reaching Alaska and others eventually appearing as far away as the Arctic and Scotland.
The findings helped researchers improve computer models used to understand the movement of ocean currents. Scientists also learned more about how floating debris can travel through the Arctic and eventually enter other ocean basins. The spill demonstrated that ocean currents are not isolated systems. Instead, they form a vast network connecting distant regions of the planet.
