Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/59792

JaLCDOI : 10.14943/bull.fish.65.2.111

KEYWORDS : Fukushima dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident;Radioactive cesium;Surface-seawater;North Pacific;T/S "Oshoro-Maru"

Massive radioactive cesium was released to the North Pacific Ocean by the accident of the TEPCO Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant from March 2011. Using the T/S "Oshoro-Maru" cruise, we started monitoring the concentration of radioactive cesium radioactive cesium(134Cs and 137Cs) in the North Pacific surface water from May 2011. Until December 2014, the samplings were carried out at 394 stations in the North Pacific Ocean including the Japan Sea and the Bering Sea. High concentration of radioactive cesium has been observed off Tohoku in 2011, and afterwards spread through the eastern side of the North Pacific by the Kuroshio Extension. In the most region, the radioactive cesium in the surface water reduced by less than the detection limit by the end of 2012. In order to clarify the spatiotemporal change of radioactive cesium in the ocean in future, the continuous monitoring by using the T/S "Oshoro-Maru" cruise be useful.