Numerical study and prediction of nuclear contaminant transport from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the North Pacific Ocean

On March 11,2011,a large earthquake and subsequent tsunami near the east coast of Japan destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant(FD-NPP),causing a massive release of nuclear contaminants.In this paper,a Pacific basin-wide physical dispersion model is developed and used to investigate the transport of nuclear contaminants.The Pacific circulation model,based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System(ROMS),is forced with air-sea flux climatology derived from COADS(the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set).It is shown that ocean current dominates nuclear contaminant transport.Following the Kuroshio Extension and North Pacific Current,nuclear contaminants at the surface will move eastward in the Pacific as far as 140°W,thereafter dividing into two branches.For the south branch,nuclear contaminants will be transported westward by the equatorial current,and can reach the Philippines after 10 years’ time.In contrast,the north branch will arrive at the American west coast and then migrate to the Bering Sea.At 200 m water depth,part of the nuclear materials will move southwestward along with deep ocean circulation,which could potentially reach the east coast of Taiwan.The other part will move to the west coast of America and separate into two branches.One will move northward along the west coast of Alaska,while the other will travel southward to the Hawaiian Islands.The transport of radiation contaminants below 500 m is slow,and will primarily remain in the central Pacific.The physical dispersion model results show that high concentrations of the radioactive isotope cesium-137(137 Cs) will move eastward and reach the central Pacific and west coast of North America in two and eight years,respectively.The sea areas influenced by the nuclear contaminants continue to expand,while peak concentrations decrease in the North Pacific.     

North Pacific seasonality and the glaciation of North America 2.7 million years ago

In the context of gradual Cenozoic cooling, the timing of the onset of significant Northern Hemisphere glaciation 2.7 million years ago is consistent with Milankovitch's orbital theory, which posited that ice sheets grow when polar summertime insolation and temperature are low. However, the role of moisture supply in the initiation of large Northern Hemisphere ice sheets has remained unclear. The subarctic Pacific Ocean represents a significant source of water vapour to boreal North America, but it has been largely overlooked in efforts to explain Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Here we present alkenone unsaturation ratios and diatom oxygen isotope ratios from a sediment core in the western subarctic Pacific Ocean, indicating that 2.7 million years ago late-summer sea surface temperatures in this ocean region rose in response to an increase in stratification. At the same time, winter sea surface temperatures cooled, winter floating ice became more abundant and global climate descended into glacial conditions. We suggest that the observed summer warming extended into the autumn, providing water vapour to northern North America, where it precipitated and accumulated as snow, and thus allowed the initiation of Northern Hemisphere glaciation.     

福岛核事故后放射性废物的影响及处置对策

 福岛核事故中,氢气爆炸破坏反应堆厂房顶盖,导致大量放射性物质外泄,造成周边环境大面积污染.事故后续处理过程中还产生大量二次污染物.因此,福岛核事故后放射性废弃物呈现数量大、范围广的特点,给后续核污染的治理带来巨大挑战.本文介绍福岛核事故所造成的环境污染和厂内污染情况,分析污染种类、特点、应对措施等,总结该事故中放射性废弃物处置对策及其对中国核电发展的启示.     

No extreme bipolar glaciation during the main Eocene calcite compensation shift

Major ice sheets were permanently established on Antarctica approximately 34 million years ago, close to the Eocene/Oligocene boundary, at the same time as a permanent deepening of the calcite compensation depth in the world's oceans. Until recently, it was thought that Northern Hemisphere glaciation began much later, between 11 and 5 million years ago. This view has been challenged, however, by records of ice rafting at high northern latitudes during the Eocene epoch and by estimates of global ice volume that exceed the storage capacity of Antarctica at the same time as a temporary deepening of the calcite compensation depth approximately 41.6 million years ago. Here we test the hypothesis that large ice sheets were present in both hemispheres approximately 41.6 million years ago using marine sediment records of oxygen and carbon isotope values and of calcium carbonate content from the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. These records allow, at most, an ice budget that can easily be accommodated on Antarctica, indicating that large ice sheets were not present in the Northern Hemisphere. The records also reveal a brief interval shortly before the temporary deepening of the calcite compensation depth during which the calcite compensation depth shoaled, ocean temperatures increased and carbon isotope values decreased in the equatorial Atlantic. The nature of these changes around 41.6 million years ago implies common links, in terms of carbon cycling, with events at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary and with the 'hyperthermals' of the Early Eocene climate optimum. Our findings help to resolve the apparent discrepancy between the geological records of Northern Hemisphere glaciation and model results that indicate that the threshold for continental glaciation was crossed earlier in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere.     

Monitoring of atmospheric radionuclides from the Fukushima nuclear accident and assessing their impact on Xi’an, China

Aerosol radionuclides (131I, 134Cs, 137Cs) and gaseous radioactive xenon (133Xe) were monitored at Xi’an, China following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011. The additional annual effective dose attributable to the Fukushima emissions was much lower than the public annual effective dose from natural radiation, according to Chinese national standards. The monitoring results were compared with data from other countries as well as with the radionuclide concentrations observed in Xi’an after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. Possible transport pathways of the released radionuclides from Fukushima to Xi’an were investigated. The occurrence of an anticyclone in the Pacific Ocean region and the extended period over which the radionuclides were released made the determination transport pathways complex, but divergence in the plume and easterly flow evidently brought the initial suite of radionuclides to Xi’an.     

Millennial-scale climate change since the last glaciation recorded by grain sizes of loess deposits on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Whether climatic changes in high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere since the last glaciation have effects on the Tibetan Plateau monsoon, and the variation characteristics of the Plateau monsoon itself are still not solved but of great significance. The 22-m high-resolution Ioess-paleosol sequence in the Hezuo Basin on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau demonstrates that the Plateau winter monsoon experienced a millennial variation similar to high latitude Northern Hemisphere, with cold events clearly correlated with Heinrich events but less for the warm events (Dansgarrd-Oeschger events). It may indicate that the climate system at high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere had played an important role in both the Plateau monsoon and the high-level westerlies. On 10^4 year scale, there are two distinct anomalous changes, which are not found in the records from high latitude northern hemisphere, revealed by the loess grain size in the Hezuo Basin. One is that there was a considerable grain size increase at -36 kaBP, suggesting an abrupt enhancement of the Plateau winter monsoon at that time; the other is that, during 43--36 kaBP, the grain size decreased distinctly, indicating a notable weakening of the Plateau winter monsoon around that period. Both of the two anomalies suggest that the Tibetan climate may have been controlled by some other factors, besides the high latitude climatic changes in the Northern Hemisphere.     

Insolation-driven changes in atmospheric circulation over the past 116,000 years in subtropical Brazil

During the last glacial period, large millennial-scale temperature oscillations--the 'Dansgaard/Oeschger' cycles--were the primary climate signal in Northern Hemisphere climate archives from the high latitudes to the tropics. But whether the influence of these abrupt climate changes extended to the tropical and subtropical Southern Hemisphere, where changes in insolation are thought to be the main direct forcing of climate, has remained unclear. Here we present a high-resolution oxygen isotope record of a U/Th-dated stalagmite from subtropical southern Brazil, covering the past 116,200 years. The oxygen isotope signature varies with shifts in the source region and amount of rainfall in the area, and hence records changes in atmospheric circulation and convective intensity over South America. We find that these variations in rainfall source and amount are primarily driven by summer solar radiation, which is controlled by the Earth's precessional cycle. The Dansgaard/Oeschger cycles can be detected in our record and therefore we confirm that they also affect the tropical hydrological cycle, but that in southern subtropical Brazil, millennial-scale climate changes are not as dominant as they are in the Northern Hemisphere.     

Geophysics. Longitudinal variation in springtime ozone trends

Satellite measurements indicate that mid-latitude ozone depletion in the Northern Hemisphere spring during 1979-97 was worst over Europe and Russia. Here we show that these longitudinal differences in ozone trends are due to a combination of decadal variations in the circulation and transport of ozone-depleted air from the polar vortex. Any increase in ozone depletion in the polar vortex as a result of future cooling of the stratosphere would therefore be particularly bad over Europe and Russia.     

Spatial and temporal variations of light rain events over China and the mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere

Based on observed daily precipitation data, monthly gridded radiosonde upper air temperature and sea surface temperature data from the UK Met Office Hadley Centre, monthly surface air temperature from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia and the NCEP/NCAR monthly reanalysis data, this study investigates the spatial and temporal variations of light rain events over China and the mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere during 1961-2010, and discusses the relationship between the change of light rain events and atmospheric stability, sea surface temperature and atmospheric circulation. The light rain events over East China display a decreasing trend of 3.0%/10 a in summer and winter half years. Over Northwest China, an increasing trend of 4.1%/10 a is found in winter half years, but there is no trend in summer half years. Using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, it is found that the first two principal components of light rain events over the mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere show long time scale variations in summer and winter half years. The first EOF modes (EOF1s) for summer and winter half years both depict a long-term increase in light rain events over North America and Southern Europe as well as Northwest China (except in summer half years), and a long-term decrease over most of the Eurasia (Central Europe, Eastern Europe, North Asia and East China). The second EOF mode (EOF2) for summer half year shows that light rain events increase over North America, Southern Europe and South China, but decrease over Eurasia north of 45°N from 1961 to early 1980s, while the trends reverse from late 1980s to 2010. The second EOF mode (EOF2) for winter half years indicates that light rain events increase over North America and South and North China, but decrease over Eurasia north of 40°N from 1961 to early 1980s, while the trends reverse from late 1980s to 2009. Correlation analysis and linear regression analysis suggest that EOF1s may be related to the change in atmospheric static stability associated with global warming, and EOF2s are possibly linked to the AMO.     

平流层爆发性增温的时空分布特征

利用1950～2003年逐日平均NCEP资料,对平流层爆发性增温（SSW）的特征进行了统计分析,得到如下结果：北半球SSW具有多发性,在这53年里共发现了69次增温事件,平均每年一次以上,有些年份甚至出现2～3次;SSW中心位置随高度变化,在较低层（16 km附近）中心位置大部分偏于西半球的北美北部到北极地区,高层（30 km附近）附近其中心多偏于东半球欧亚大陆的北边到北极地区;北半球SSW最先发生在30 km附近的欧亚大陆以北地区,然后由上向下延伸和传递,同时中心位置也逐渐转到西半球的北美大陆北端;在北半球发生SSW期间,平流层温度场和环流场的变化也会影响到对流层,引起对流层温度场和环流场的变化.对2002年9月发生在南半球平流层的一次强爆发性增温进行分析表明,南半球的这次SSW发生时表现出的特征与北半球稍有不同,在较低层（16 km附近）SSW中心出现在东半球的南端,在较高层（25～30 km）SSW中心位于西半球的南端.     

Global warming preceded by increasing carbon dioxide concentrations during the last deglaciation

The covariation of carbon dioxide (CO(2)) concentration and temperature in Antarctic ice-core records suggests a close link between CO(2) and climate during the Pleistocene ice ages. The role and relative importance of CO(2) in producing these climate changes remains unclear, however, in part because the ice-core deuterium record reflects local rather than global temperature. Here we construct a record of global surface temperature from 80 proxy records and show that temperature is correlated with and generally lags CO(2) during the last (that is, the most recent) deglaciation. Differences between the respective temperature changes of the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere parallel variations in the strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation recorded in marine sediments. These observations, together with transient global climate model simulations, support the conclusion that an antiphased hemispheric temperature response to ocean circulation changes superimposed on globally in-phase warming driven by increasing CO(2) concentrations is an explanation for much of the temperature change at the end of the most recent ice age.     

Abrupt reversal in ocean overturning during the Palaeocene/Eocene warm period

An exceptional analogue for the study of the causes and consequences of global warming occurs at the Palaeocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum, 55 million years ago. A rapid rise of global temperatures during this event accompanied turnovers in both marine and terrestrial biota, as well as significant changes in ocean chemistry and circulation. Here we present evidence for an abrupt shift in deep-ocean circulation using carbon isotope records from fourteen sites. These records indicate that deep-ocean circulation patterns changed from Southern Hemisphere overturning to Northern Hemisphere overturning at the start of the Palaeocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum. This shift in the location of deep-water formation persisted for at least 40,000 years, but eventually recovered to original circulation patterns. These results corroborate climate model inferences that a shift in deep-ocean circulation would deliver relatively warmer waters to the deep sea, thus producing further warming. Greenhouse conditions can thus initiate abrupt deep-ocean circulation changes in less than a few thousand years, but may have lasting effects; in this case taking 100,000 years to revert to background conditions.     

Modelled atmospheric temperatures and global sea levels over the past million years

Marine records of sediment oxygen isotope compositions show that the Earth's climate has gone through a succession of glacial and interglacial periods during the past million years. But the interpretation of the oxygen isotope records is complicated because both isotope storage in ice sheets and deep-water temperature affect the recorded isotopic composition. Separating these two effects would require long records of either sea level or deep-ocean temperature, which are currently not available. Here we use a coupled model of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets and ocean temperatures, forced to match an oxygen isotope record for the past million years compiled from 57 globally distributed sediment cores, to quantify both contributions simultaneously. We find that the ice-sheet contribution to the variability in oxygen isotope composition varied from ten per cent in the beginning of glacial periods to sixty per cent at glacial maxima, suggesting that strong ocean cooling preceded slow ice-sheet build-up. The model yields mutually consistent time series of continental mean surface temperatures between 40 and 80 degrees N, ice volume and global sea level. We find that during extreme glacial stages, air temperatures were 17 +/- 1.8 degrees C lower than present, with a 120 +/- 10 m sea level equivalent of continental ice present.     

南极高空臭氧含量减少对平流层温度场影响的数值模拟

目的对比研究南极大陆高空臭氧含量对全球平流层大气温度场的影响。方法应用改进后的CCM1(R15L12)模式,以国家气象中心1991年1月16日的全球客观分析资料为初始场,积分到1998年7月31日。结果平流层上、中、下部温度下降的趋势均较为明显,同时部分区域温度略有增高,这在北半球更为显著。结论整体而言臭氧减少可造成平流层各层的温度降低,从而影响到平流层的大气环流及输送过程。     

2003 vs 2002: A large amplitude wintertime temperature anomaly reversion event and its anomalous atmospheric circulation

It is revealed that there happened a large amplitude wintertime temperature anomaly reversion event (LTAR) in Northern Hemisphere high latitude regions and South Australia for the year 2003 versus 2002, with the most notable change in Eurasia, eastern North America, North Pacific, and South Australia. The accompanying atmospheric general circulation anomalies are analyzed and the dominant changes in the circulation are found out. The anomalous cyclonic eddies over the north Pacific and the anomalous anticyclonic eddies over North Europe that cooperate each other are mostly linked with the event. Both anomalous eddy systems are connected with the remote teleconnection patterns respectively. The research also suggests the existence of a cross-equator teleconnection pattern, namely, the Northern Pacific-Western Pacific-Australia teleconnection pattern (NPWPA). It is not only related to LTAR, but also associated with the temperature transition from cold episode to warm episode in the year 2003 versus 2002 during December-January-February.     

Increased productivity in the subantarctic ocean during Heinrich events

Massive iceberg discharges from the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, 'Heinrich events', coincided with the coldest periods of the last ice age. There is widespread evidence for Heinrich events and their profound impact on the climate and circulation of the North Atlantic Ocean, but their influence beyond that region remains uncertain. Here we use a combination of molecular fingerprints of algal productivity and radioisotope tracers of sedimentation to document eight periods of increased productivity in the subpolar Southern Ocean during the past 70,000 years that occurred within 1,000-2,000 years of a Northern Hemisphere Heinrich event. We discuss possible causes for such a link, including increased supply of iron from upwelling and increased stratification during the growing season, which imply an alteration of the global ocean circulation during Heinrich events. The mechanisms linking North Atlantic iceberg discharges with subantarctic productivity remain unclear at this point. We suggest that understanding how the Southern Ocean was altered during these extreme climate perturbations is critical to understanding the role of the ocean in climate change.     

Rapid stepwise onset of Antarctic glaciation and deeper calcite compensation in the Pacific Ocean

The ocean depth at which the rate of calcium carbonate input from surface waters equals the rate of dissolution is termed the calcite compensation depth. At present, this depth is approximately 4,500 m, with some variation between and within ocean basins. The calcite compensation depth is linked to ocean acidity, which is in turn linked to atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and hence global climate. Geological records of changes in the calcite compensation depth show a prominent deepening of more than 1 km near the Eocene/Oligocene boundary (approximately 34 million years ago) when significant permanent ice sheets first appeared on Antarctica, but the relationship between these two events is poorly understood. Here we present ocean sediment records of calcium carbonate content as well as carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions from the tropical Pacific Ocean that cover the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. We find that the deepening of the calcite compensation depth was more rapid than previously documented and occurred in two jumps of about 40,000 years each, synchronous with the stepwise onset of Antarctic ice-sheet growth. The glaciation was initiated, after climatic preconditioning, by an interval when the Earth's orbit of the Sun favoured cool summers. The changes in oxygen-isotope composition across the Eocene/Oligocene boundary are too large to be explained by Antarctic ice-sheet growth alone and must therefore also indicate contemporaneous global cooling and/or Northern Hemisphere glaciation.     

The possible pivotal role of the eastward dust transport from Central Asia in the global temperature decrease

It is generally considered that the occurrence of glacial-interglacial gyrations can be explained with the Milankovitch theory. However, the solutions of some problems in the theory are currently not derived yet. After researching the eastward dust transport from Central Asia, we have found that there is a positive feedback mechanism between the eastward dust transport and the global temperature decrease. This magnifies the effect of solar radiation change in the high-latitude Hemisphere, and results in area of the Northern the occurrence of the global glacial epoch. The positive feedback mechanism starts with the reduction of solar radiation in the high-latitude area of the Northern Hemisphere. Subsequently, the global temperature decreases and global glacial epoch occurs, in which the pivotal fac- tor is the eastward dust transport from Central Asia. With the theory of the positive feedback mechanism, some problems in the Milankovitch theory can be solved well.     

核电开发与公民基本权利的保障——从全球反核浪潮谈起

日本福岛核电站发生核泄漏事故后,世界范围内掀起了新一轮的反核运动浪潮,核电开发利用的政策受到了普通民众的强烈质疑。我国当前正处于政府大力支持核电发展时期,但在世界上发生多起核泄漏事故后,理应重新审察核电政策,作为对人类生存环境存在极大威胁的核电事业,客观上存在对公民生命健康权等基本权利的潜在威胁,应当由承担生存权受侵害风险的全体公民参与核电政策的制定,即应将核电开发政策决定程序上升到宪法规范的高度,由国家权力机关即全国人民代表大会决定核电开发的政策。     

Early Oligocene initiation of North Atlantic Deep Water formation

Dating the onset of deep-water flow between the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans is critical for modelling climate change in the Northern Hemisphere and for explaining changes in global ocean circulation throughout the Cenozoic era (from about 65 million years ago to the present). In the early Cenozoic era, exchange between these two ocean basins was inhibited by the Greenland-Scotland ridge, but a gateway through the Faeroe-Shetland basin has been hypothesized. Previous estimates of the date marking the onset of deep-water circulation through this basin-on the basis of circumstantial evidence from neighbouring basins-have been contradictory, ranging from about 35 to 15 million years ago. Here we describe the newly discovered Southeast Faeroes drift, which extends for 120 km parallel to the basin axis. The onset of deposition in this drift has been dated to the early Oligocene epoch ( approximately 35 million years ago) from a petroleum exploration borehole. We show that the drift was deposited under a southerly flow regime, and conclude that the initiation of deep-water circulation from the Norwegian Sea into the North Atlantic Ocean took place much earlier than is currently assumed in most numerical models of ancient ocean circulation.