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Transport and fate of Fukushima-derived 137Cs and 134Cs in the seawater of the Northwest Pacific in 2015.

Authors :
Wang, Fenfen
Men, Wu
Huang, Jiang
Chen, Zhaohui
Xu, Lixiao
Source :
Environmental Science & Pollution Research; Aug2024, Vol. 31 Issue 40, p52855-52867, 13p
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

To understand the influence of the Fukushima accident on the Northwest Pacific, the distributions and transportations of <superscript>134</superscript>Cs and <superscript>137</superscript>Cs in the seawater in the Northwest Pacific in May and September 2015 were studied. The data showed that the Fukushima-derived <superscript>134</superscript>Cs and <superscript>137</superscript>Cs at some stations can still be distinguished from background level ~ 4 years later. On the whole, the activities of <superscript>137</superscript>Cs and <superscript>134</superscript>Cs in seawater were decreasing from May to Sep 2015. But the increased inventories and the surface activities of <superscript>137</superscript>Cs imply that there has ever been an extra <superscript>137</superscript>Cs from offshore water transported to this study area (from 31° N to 27° N, 145° E to 152.5° E) in May 2015. The average activities of <superscript>137</superscript>Cs in subtropical gyre area in south of KE were the highest and the least were to the east of Luzon Strait in 2015. In vertical direction, <superscript>137</superscript>Cs in subtropical gyre area were mainly distributed at 100 ~ 500 m layer and <superscript>137</superscript>Cs only at 500 m layer in this area showed an increasing trend from May to Sep 2015 which reflects more <superscript>137</superscript>Cs were still penetrating to deeper layer of 500 m from upper water. But they were almost not found below 1000 m layer. It was associated with the subsurface transport of radiocesiums by Northwest Pacific Mode Water (NPMW) and the diffusion of mesoscale eddy. Different distribution characteristics of <superscript>137</superscript>Cs existed between north of KE and south of KE. The low-temperature-low-salinity water mass likely to be the first Oyashio Intrusion was the main factor that resulted in higher <superscript>137</superscript>Cs appearing at the upper 100 m layers in north of KE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
09441344
Volume :
31
Issue :
40
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Environmental Science & Pollution Research
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
179505903
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-34670-3