Accessibility navigation


Improved representation of particle size and solubility in model simulations of atmospheric dispersion and wet-deposition from Fukushima

Dacre, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4328-9126, Bedwell, P., Hertwig, D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2483-2675, Leadbetter, S., loizou, P. and Webster, H. (2020) Improved representation of particle size and solubility in model simulations of atmospheric dispersion and wet-deposition from Fukushima. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 217. 106193. ISSN 0265-931X

[img]
Preview
Text - Accepted Version
· Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.
· Please see our End User Agreement before downloading.

1MB

It is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from this work. See Guidance on citing.

To link to this item DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2020.106193

Abstract/Summary

Radionuclides released into the atmosphere following the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident were detected by ground-based monitoring stations worldwide. The inter-continental dispersion of radionuclides provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the ability of atmospheric dispersion models to represent the processes controlling their transport and deposition in the atmosphere. Co-located measurements of radioxenon (133Xe) and caesium (137Cs) concentrations enable individual physical processes (dispersion, dry and wet deposition) to be isolated. In this paper we focus on errors in the prediction of 137Cs attributed to the representation of particle size and solubility, in the process of modelling wet deposition. Simulations of 133Xe and 137Cs concentrations using the UK Met Office NAME (Numerical Atmospheric-dispersion Modelling Environment) model are compared with CTBTO (Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation) surface station measurements. NAME predictions of 137Cs using a bulk wet deposition parameterisation (which does not account for particle size dependent scavenging or solubility) significantly underestimate observed 137Cs. When a binned wet deposition parameterisation is implemented (which accounts for particle size dependent scavenging) the correlations between modelled and observed air concentrations improve at all 9 of the Northern Hemisphere sites studied and the respective RMSLE (root-mean-square-log-error) decreases by a factor of 7 due to a decrease in the wet-deposition of Aitken and Accumulation mode particles. Finally, NAME simulations were performed in which insoluble submicron particles are represented. Representing insoluble particles in the NAME simulations improves the RMSLE at all sites further by a factor of 7. Thus NAME is able to predict 137Cs with good accuracy (within a factor of 10 of observed 137Cs values) at distances greater than 10,000 km from FDNPP only if insoluble submicron particles are considered in the description of the source. This result provides further evidence of the presence of insoluble Cs-rich microparticles in the release following the accident at FDNPP and suggests that these small particles travelled across the Pacific Ocean to the US and further across the North Atlantic Ocean towards Europe.

Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Divisions:Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
ID Code:88957
Publisher:Elsevier

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

University Staff: Request a correction | Centaur Editors: Update this record

Page navigation