{"id":1946,"date":"2019-06-05T13:58:25","date_gmt":"2019-06-05T17:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/?page_id=1946"},"modified":"2019-06-21T11:06:05","modified_gmt":"2019-06-21T15:06:05","slug":"2011-kok-fukushima","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/projects\/fukushima\/2011-kok-fukushima\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 KOK Fukushima Research Cruise"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<h1>2011 KOK Fukushima Research Cruise<\/h1>\r\n<h3>On This Page<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Overview &amp; Rational<\/li>\r\n<li>Location<\/li>\r\n<li>Participants<\/li>\r\n<li>Press Release<\/li>\r\n<li>News Reports<\/li>\r\n<li>Data links<\/li>\r\n<li>Post-cruise Update<\/li>\r\n<li>Daily Updates<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/projects\/fukushima\/\"><strong>Back to main Fukushima Page<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\r\n<h3>Funding<\/h3>\r\n<p>Funding for this cruise was generously provided by the Gordon &amp; Betty Moore Foundation and the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/06\/GBMF-300x117.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"206\" height=\"80\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2016\/09\/nsf.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>Overview<\/p>\r\n<p>On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake 80 miles off the northeast coast of Japan triggered a series of tsunamis that struck nearby shorelines with only a few minutes\u2019 warning. The disaster left dozens of villages along nearly 200 miles of coast heavily damaged or completely destroyed.<\/p>\r\n<p>The waves, some of which measured more than 40 feet, also struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant 150 miles north of Tokyo, disabling the plant\u2019s emergency systems and, over the following weeks, resulted in the largest accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history. Because of the plant\u2019s location, much of this contamination washed into the Pacific. Additional airborne radioactive material likely fell onto the sea surface, where it too mixed into the water.<\/p>\r\n<p>The need to understand the amount, type, and fate of radioactive materials released prompted a group of scientists from the U.S., Japan, and Europe to organize the first multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional research cruise in the northwestern Pacific since the events of March and April. A group of 17 researchers and technicians spent two weeks aboard the University of Hawaii research vessel R\/V <em>Kaimikai-O-Kanaloa<\/em> examining many of the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the ocean that either determine the fate of radioactivity in the water or that are potentially affected by radiation in the marine environment.<\/p>\r\n<p>Location The KOK Cruise from June 3-17, 2011. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/06\/sampling_0609-small_156993.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"315\" \/>Map showing the cruise track and sampling stations during the June 2011 cruise to study radiation in the pacific. Bright red indicates highest current velocities with dark blue being the lowest velocities. The main current path is known as the <em>Kuroshio Current<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n<p>The survey track covered and area of about 6\u00b0 of longitude (~600 km) and 3\u00b0 of latitude (~300 km) mainly to survey to the north of the Kuroshio Current.<\/p>\r\n<p>Participants<\/p>\r\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td width=\"30%\"><strong>First Name<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td width=\"30%\"><strong>Last Name<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td width=\"40%\"><strong>Organization<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Kenneth<\/td>\r\n<td>Buesseler<\/td>\r\n<td>WHOI<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Steven<\/td>\r\n<td>Pike<\/td>\r\n<td>WHOI<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Kenneth<\/td>\r\n<td>Kostel<\/td>\r\n<td>WHOI<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Crystal<\/td>\r\n<td>Brier<\/td>\r\n<td>WHOI<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Steven<\/td>\r\n<td>Jayne<\/td>\r\n<td>WHOI<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Alison<\/td>\r\n<td>Macdonald<\/td>\r\n<td>WHOI<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Sachiko<\/td>\r\n<td>Yoshida<\/td>\r\n<td>WHOI<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Irina<\/td>\r\n<td>Rypina<\/td>\r\n<td>WHOI<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Jun<\/td>\r\n<td>Nishikawa<\/td>\r\n<td>University of Tokyo<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Hiroomi<\/td>\r\n<td>Miyamoto<\/td>\r\n<td>University of Tokyo<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Kamila<\/td>\r\n<td>Stastna<\/td>\r\n<td>University of Hawaii<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td width=\"303\">Taylor Alexander Borrius<\/td>\r\n<td>Broek<\/td>\r\n<td>University of California Santa Cruz<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Nuria<\/td>\r\n<td>Casacuberta<\/td>\r\n<td>University Barcelona Autonama<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Hannes<\/td>\r\n<td>Baumann<\/td>\r\n<td>State University of New York at Stony Brook<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Jennifer<\/td>\r\n<td>George<\/td>\r\n<td>State University of New York at Stony Brook<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Melissa Truth<\/td>\r\n<td>Miller<\/td>\r\n<td>Scripps Institution of Oceanography<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr valign=\"top\">\r\n<td>Jarvis<\/td>\r\n<td>Caffrey<\/td>\r\n<td>Oregon State University<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<p><strong>Additional Labs<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.u-tokyo.ac.jp\/index_e.html\">University of Tokyo<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/\">University of Hawaii<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.titech.ac.jp\/english\/\">Tokyo Institute of Technology<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/srnl.doe.gov\/\">Savannah River National Lab<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ox.ac.uk\/\">Oxford University<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ldeo.columbia.edu\/\">Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iaea.org\/\">International Atomic Energy Agency Environmental Laboratories<\/a>, Monaco<\/li>\r\n<li>IAEA\/<a href=\"http:\/\/www.uni-bremen.de\/en.html\">University of Bremen<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uniba.sk\/en\/\">Comenius University Bratislava Slovakia<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>Press Release<\/p>\r\n<header>\r\n<h4>Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to Lead Expedition to Measure Radioactive Contaminants in the Pacific Ocean<\/h4>\r\n<\/header><hr \/>\r\n<p>June 2, 2011<\/p>\r\n<p>The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will lead the first international, multidisciplinary assessment of the levels and dispersion of radioactive substances in the Pacific Ocean off the Fukushima nuclear power plant\u2014a research effort funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cThis project will address fundamental questions about the impact of this release of radiation to the ocean, and in the process enhance international collaboration and sharing of scientific data,\u201d said Vicki Chandler, Chief Program Officer, Science at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. \u201cIt is our hope that through this adverse event, we can increase our current knowledge about various natural and man-made sources of radioactivity in the ocean, and how they might ultimately impact ocean life and health around the world.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>The shipboard research team includes scientists from WHOI, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz\/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Univ. of Hawaii, Univ. Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain), and the Univ. of Tokyo (Japan). They will collect water and biological samples and take ocean current measurements in an area 200 km x 200 km offshore of the plant and further offshore along the Kuroshio Current. Their work will build on efforts by Japanese scientists and lay the foundation for expanded international collaboration and long-term research of questions related to releases from the Fukushima plant.<\/p>\r\n<p>In addition to those on board, collaboration will include scientists at labs at Oxford University (U.K.), the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), the IAEA Environment Laboratories (Monaco), the University of Bremen (Germany) Comenius University Bratislava (Slovakia), Savannah River National Laboratory, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, and the University of Hawaii (U.S.).<\/p>\r\n<p>The 15-day expedition aboard the University of Hawaii\u2019s research vessel <em>Kaimikai-O-Kanoloa <\/em>departs June 4.<\/p>\r\n<p>Read the full release <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whoi.edu\/press-room\/news-release\/woods-hole-oceanographic-institution-to-lead-expedition-to-measure-radioactive-contaminants-in-the-pacific-ocean\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HERE<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p>Data Links<\/p>\r\n<p>All data from the KOK Cruise is stored on the BCO-DMO repository at the following link:<\/p>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bco-dmo.org\/project\/2171\">https:\/\/www.bco-dmo.org\/project\/2171<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p>This includes Iodine-129 levels, CTD profiles, surface drifter measurements, underway cesium isotopes, underway radiation monitoring and more. Please contact us with questions.<\/p>\r\n<p>Post-Cruise Update<\/p>\r\n<p>July 18, 2011<\/p>\r\n<p>On June 18, the international team led by Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution completed its 15-day research expedition to take water and biological samples and study ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean off the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The team began sampling 400 miles offshore and worked their way toward the coast within site of the reactors &#8212; about 20 miles from the nuclear complex. Their goal was and is to assess the levels and dispersion of radioactive substances and to determine the extent to which radionuclides are accumulated in marine life at the base of the food chain and juveniles and adults of smaller fish species that serve as prey for many larger marine life, including some commercially important fish.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Radiation exposure for humans<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>During their time at sea, members of the team monitored radiation levels on board the ship daily and found these were well below any level that would be cause of concern for direct exposure. In fact, because they were at sea, the levels were below what the team would have been exposed to had they been on land, primarily due to natural radiation from soil and rocks.<\/p>\r\n<p>Radiation levels in the area the team worked were not of concern for direct human exposure. Had the team detected high levels of radioactivity on the ship or in the ocean, it would have notified authorities immediately and left the area in which they were working for a safer location.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Pathways for radiation transport<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>The team also deployed floats to track ocean circulation off shore of the nuclear complex. Water samples they collected will be analyzed in various labs over coming months, and the data these analyses generate will be used to generate a set of concentration maps for many different radionuclides. By combining circulation data with concentration data we can begin to understand the dispersion patterns and thus the potential near- and long-term fate of the releases and related public health issues.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Radiation exposure for marine life<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>The team conducted more than 100 net tows to collect biological samples of phytoplankton zooplankton (the base of the food chain) as well as small fish. These are the first place one would expect to see accumulation of radionuclides. From the<\/p>\r\n<p>biological samples, the scientists involved will work to assemble a picture of the radionuclide concentrations in those biological samples and how much of the accumulation is due to releases from the Fukushima reactors.<\/p>\r\n<p>While this biological work is the first step in answering the many unknowns about the impact of radioactivity to marine life, there are many questions that need to be answered that are beyond the scope of the team\u2019s work. They include: How much seafood is safe to eat? What is the risk presented by different types of seafood? What parts of the ocean are safe to fish and when, if ever, will the most heavily contaminated regions become safe again?<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Accomplishments<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>While at sea, the team\u2019s accomplishments include:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Collecting more than 1,500 samples ranging from 50 milliliters to 20 liters from more than 300 logged sampling events, plus samples of particulates taken from water volumes as large as 1,000 liters<\/li>\r\n<li>Amassing more than 3,000 liters of water samples weighing more than 3 metric tons that will be shipped to labs around the world for radionuclide analyses<\/li>\r\n<li>Making more than 100 tows resulting in about 50 pounds of biological samples (though there is still quite a bit of water in these samples yet).<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>Over the coming months 16 labs in seven countries will analyze samples for a more comprehensive set of isotopes than have been analyzed to date that includes cesium-134 and -137; strontium-90; iodine-129; tritium; uranium-236; plutonium- 239 and -240; rutherium-103 and -106; cerium-141 and -144; radium-223, -224, &#8211; 228, and -226; and neptunium-237.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>What\u2019s next<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>The analysis will help give a clearer idea of how much radiation is out here, where it\u2019s going, how quickly it\u2019s mixing into the ocean, and to what extent it is working its way into the marine food chain and removed via physical and biological processes.<\/p>\r\n<p>The results of these analyses will take time, with the first results likely to be issued in six months and continue for several years. The nuclear accident at Fukushima is an unprecedented event for the ocean. It will take time and continued sampling and analysis to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of radionuclide levels and their fate.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Daily Cruise Updates<\/h2>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2011 KOK Fukushima Research Cruise On This Page Overview &amp; Rational Location Participants Press Release News Reports Data links Post-cruise Update Daily Updates Back to main Fukushima Page Funding Funding for this cruise was generously provided by the Gordon &amp; Betty Moore Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Overview On March 11, 2011, a magnitude&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":1286,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1946","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1946"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2267,"href":"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1946\/revisions\/2267"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/website.whoi.edu\/cafethorium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}