Curtis Ebbesmeyer

Curtis Charles Ebbesmeyer (born April 24, 1943) is an American oceanographer based in Seattle, Washington. In retirement, he has studied the movement of flotsam to track ocean currents.

He gained public attention by his reporting of studies of the movement and distribution of a consignment of rubber bath toys, which were washed from a ship into the Pacific Ocean in 1992, and continued to be collected from Northwest beaches for more than twelve years. He has established a network among beachcombers to track and report such materials, and in 1996 founded the nonprofit Beachcombers' and Oceanographers' International Association. He also writes and publishes its magazine Beachcombers' Alert.