B11K-02
Comprehensive Retrieval of Spatio-temporal Variations in Atmospheric Radionuclides just after the Fukushima Accident by Analyzing Filter-tapes of Operational Air Pollution Monitoring Stations in Eastern Japan
Monday, 14 December 2015: 08:15
2006 (Moscone West)
Haruo Tsuruta1, Yasuji Oura2, Mitsuru Ebihara2, Toshimasa Ohara3 and Teruyuki Nakajima4,5, (1)RESTEC Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan, Tokyo, Japan, (2)Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan, (3)NIES National Institute of Environmental Studies, Ibaraki, Japan, (4)JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Earth Observation Research Center, Sagamihara, Japan, (5)Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Tsukuba, Japan
Abstract:
After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FD1NPS) accident on March 11, 2011, many datasets have been available of deposition density of radionuclides in soils in eastern Japan. By contrast, no time-series data of atmospheric radionuclides has been measured in the Fukushima prefecture (FP), although very limited data is available in the Tokyo metropolitan area (TMA) located more than 170 km southwest of the FD1NPS. As a result, atmospheric transport models simulating the atmospheric concentrations and surface deposition of radionuclides have large uncertainty, as well as the estimate of release rate of source terms and of internal exposure from inhalation. One year after the accident, we collected the used filter-tapes installed in Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) monitors with beta-ray attenuation method operated by local governments in the air pollution monitoring network of eastern Japan. By measuring radionuclides in SPM on the filter-tapes, we retrieved hourly atmospheric Cs-134 and Cs-137 concentrations during March 12-23, 2011, when atmospheric, aquatic, and terrestrial environments were seriously suffered in most of eastern Japan. Until now, we measured hourly radiocesium at around 100 SPM sites in the southern Tohoku region (ST) including the FP and in the TMA. By analysing the dataset, nine major plumes with Cs-137 concentrations higher than 10 Bq m-3 were found, and some plumes were newly found in this study. A local area of relatively high Cs-137 deposition density in the TMA by precipitation on the morning of March 21, was consistent with an area where the time-integrated atmospheric Cs-137 concentrations were also high due to the transport of a plume on the morning of March 21. In the FP, however, the correlation was not so clear. High radionuclides trapped in a cloud layer might be transported to the ST with relatively high Cs-137 deposition densities, because the atmospheric Cs-137 concentrations were under the detection limit.
