Premium
Hemispheric dispersion of radioactive plume laced with fission nuclides from the Fukushima nuclear event
Author(s) -
Hsu ShihChieh,
Huh ChihAn,
Chan ChuenYu,
Lin ShuenHsin,
Lin FeiJan,
Liu Shaw Chen
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2011gl049986
Subject(s) - fukushima nuclear accident , environmental science , plume , nuclide , fission products , aerosol , plateau (mathematics) , geology , atmospheric sciences , westerlies , meteorology , nuclear physics , physics , nuclear power plant , mathematical analysis , mathematics
Radioactivities of particulate 131 I and 137 Cs released from the Fukushima nuclear accident were monitored in a regional aerosol network including two high mountain sites (central Taiwan and Tibetan Plateau). The results were integrated with data measured elsewhere around the world, with special focus on the mid‐latitudes. The hemispheric transport of the Fukushima radiation clouds (FRCs) by the westerlies took ∼18 days, displaying an exponential‐like decrease eastward, with a dilution factor of at least five orders of magnitude following a full circuit around the globe. The initial two waves of FRCs may travel at different atitudes: the first one at ∼3–4 km, whereas the second one up to 5 km or more. 131 I and 137 Cs were fractionated during transport, with 137 Cs concentrated in the shallower layer, susceptible to depositional removal, while 131 I moving faster and higher. This accident may be exemplified to identify some atmospheric processes on the hemispheric scale.