Yoshida Sachiko

No Thumbnail Available
Last Name
Yoshida
First Name
Sachiko
ORCID

Filters

2012 - 2015 4
4
3 1
Reset filters

Settings
Author: Buesseler, Ken O. ×

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Article
    Fukushima-derived radionuclides in the ocean and biota off Japan
    (National Academy of Sciences, 2012-04-02) Buesseler, Ken O. ; Jayne, Steven R. ; Fisher, Nicholas S. ; Rypina, Irina I. ; Baumann, Hannes ; Baumann, Zofia ; Breier, Crystaline F. ; Douglass, Elizabeth M. ; George, Jennifer ; Macdonald, Alison M. ; Miyamoto, Hiroomi ; Nishikawa, Jun ; Pike, Steven M. ; Yoshida, Sachiko
  • Article
    Short-term dispersal of Fukushima-derived radionuclides off Japan : modeling efforts and model-data intercomparison
    (Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2013-07-24) Rypina, Irina I. ; Jayne, Steven R. ; Yoshida, Sachiko ; Macdonald, Alison M. ; Douglass, Elizabeth M. ; Buesseler, Ken O.
    The Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that caused a loss of power at the Fukushima nuclear power plants (FNPP) resulted in emission of radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere and the ocean. In June of 2011, an international survey measuring a variety of radionuclide isotopes, including 137Cs, was conducted in surface and subsurface waters off Japan. This paper presents the results of numerical simulations specifically aimed at interpreting these observations and investigating the spread of Fukushima-derived radionuclides off the coast of Japan and into the greater Pacific Ocean. Together, the simulations and observations allow us to study the dominant mechanisms governing this process, and to estimate the total amount of radionuclides in discharged coolant waters and atmospheric airborne radionuclide fallout. The numerical simulations are based on two different ocean circulation models, one inferred from AVISO altimetry and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis wind stress, and the second generated numerically by the NCOM model. Our simulations determine that > 95% of 137Cs remaining in the water within ~600 km of Fukushima, Japan in mid-June 2011 was due to the direct oceanic discharge. The estimated strength of the oceanic source is 16.2 ± 1.6 PBq, based on minimizing the model-data mismatch. We cannot make an accurate estimate for the atmospheric source strength since most of the fallout cesium had left the survey area by mid-June. The model explained several key features of the observed 137Cs distribution. First, the absence of 137Cs at the southernmost stations is attributed to the Kuroshio Current acting as a transport barrier against the southward progression of 137Cs. Second, the largest 137Cs concentrations were associated with a semi-permanent eddy that entrained 137Cs-rich waters, collecting and stirring them around the eddy perimeter. Finally, the intermediate 137Cs concentrations at the westernmost stations are attributed to younger, and therefore less Cs-rich, coolant waters that continued to leak from the reactor in June of that year.
  • Article
    Drifter-based estimate of the 5 year dispersal of Fukushima-derived radionuclides
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2014-11-28) Rypina, Irina I. ; Jayne, Steven R. ; Yoshida, Sachiko ; Macdonald, Alison M. ; Buesseler, Ken O.
    Employing some 40 years of North Pacific drifter-track observations from the Global Drifter Program database, statistics defining the horizontal spread of radionuclides from Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean are investigated over a time scale of 5 years. A novel two-iteration method is employed to make the best use of the available drifter data. Drifter-based predictions of the temporal progression of the leading edge of the radionuclide distribution are compared to observed radionuclide concentrations from research surveys occupied in 2012 and 2013. Good agreement between the drifter-based predictions and the observations is found.
  • Article
    Observed eastward progression of the Fukushima 134Cs signal across the North Pacific
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2015-09-09) Yoshida, Sachiko ; Macdonald, Alison M. ; Jayne, Steven R. ; Rypina, Irina I. ; Buesseler, Ken O.
    Radionuclide samples taken as part of hydrographic surveys at 30°N in the North Pacific reveal that the easternmost edge of Fukushima-derived 134Cs observed at 174.3°W in 2012 had progressed eastward across the basin to 160.6°W by 2013. The 2013 30°N observations indicate surface 134Cs concentrations of 3–5 Bq/m3 between 160°E and 160°W, slightly lower concentrations west of 160°E and no detectable signal east of 160.6°W. Profile samples show 134Cs penetration to 500 m west of 180° with shoaling penetration depth toward to the east. The near-uniform vertical distribution of 137Cs between 152°W and 121.3°W in the top 500 m is indicative of trace amounts of radionuclides remaining from weapons testing. The physical processes responsible for the deep 134Cs penetration in the western Pacific appear to be related to distinct water mass subduction pathways; however, the timing and rapidity of deep penetration over the broad scales observed has yet to be clarified.