title: Predicted spatio-temporal dynamics of radiocesium deposited onto forests following the Fukushima nuclear accident.
abstract: The majority of the area contaminated by the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident is covered by forest. To facilitate effective countermeasure strategies to mitigate forest contamination, we simulated the spatio-temporal dynamics of radiocesium deposited into Japanese forest ecosystems in 2011 using a model that was developed after the Chernobyl accident in 1986. The simulation revealed that the radiocesium inventories in tree and soil surface organic layer components drop rapidly during the first two years after the fallout. Over a period of one to two years, the radiocesium is predicted to move from the tree and surface organic soil to the mineral soil, which eventually becomes the largest radiocesium reservoir within forest ecosystems. Although the uncertainty of our simulations should be considered, the results provide a basis for understanding and anticipating the future dynamics of radiocesium in Japanese forests following the Fukushima accident.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Site Environment, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. shojih@ffpri.affrc.go.jp
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuura
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nanko
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Linkov
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaneko
mesh_terms: D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D062406:Fukushima Nuclear Accident; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011847:Radioactive Fallout / Q000032:analysis*; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D014197:Trees / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D011847:Radioactive Fallout; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive