Abstract
The Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011, followed by the tsunami and fire, resulted in serious environmental problems in and around Japan. A huge amount of material was discharged into the ocean after the tremendous flood damage of the tsunami. A monitoring survey of the perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) found evidence showing an abrupt increase in the PFA concentration in the ocean east of Japan in 2011 after the earthquake. To confirm the anomalous input of two typical PFAs, perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), from the Japanese coast into the ocean, associated with the earthquake, we conducted a series of chemical tracer simulations using an eddy-resolving ocean reanalysis product: JCOPE2. The simulation model involves processes representing the emission of PFAs from the land triggered by the tsunami flood, advection of the polluted waters, and decay of the concentration by the background oceanic turbulence. Comparison of the PFOA simulation results with the observation confirms a spike-like input of PFOA into the Western North Pacific after the earthquake. Advection and diffusion by the Kuroshio Extension and the mesoscale eddies play a key role in the dilution of the concentration. Optimization of unknown simulation parameters leads to an estimation of the total amount of the anomalous PFOA emission. In contrast, the PFOS simulations are not able to explain the observed distribution, suggesting possible differences in the oceanic transport processes between PFOS and PFOA.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Furuichi N, Hibiya T, Niwa Y (2012) Assessment of turbulence closure models for resonant inertial response in the oceanic mixed layer using a large eddy simulation model. J Oceanogr 68:285–294
Giesy JP, Kannan K (2001) Global distribution of perfluorooctane sulfonate in wildlife. Environ Sci Technol 35:1339–1342
Kasai A, Kimura S, Nakata H, Okazaki Y (2002) Entrainment of coastal water into a frontal eddy of the Kuroshio and its biological significance. J Mar Sys 37:185–198
Lee TN, Atkinson LP, Legeckis R (1981) Observation of a Gulf Stream frontal eddy on the Georgia continent shelf, April 1977. Deep Sea Res 28A:347–378
Masumoto Y, Miyazawa Y, Tsumune D, Kobayashi T, Estournel C, Marsaleix P, Lanerolle L, Mehra A, Garraffo ZD (2012) Oceanic dispersion simulation of cesium 137 from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Elements 8:207–212
Mellor G (2004) Users guide for a three-dimensional, primitive equation, numerical ocean model. J Phys Oceanogr 34(3):693–698
Menemenlis D, Fukumori I, Lee L (2005) Using Green’s functions to calibrate an ocean general circulation model. Mon Wea Rev 133:1224–1240
Miyazawa Y, Zhang RC, Guo X, Tamura H, Ambe D, Lee JS, Okuno A, Yoshinari H, Setou T, Komatsu K (2009) Water mass variability in the western North Pacific detected in a 15 year eddy resolving ocean reanalysis. J Oceanogr 65(6):737–756
Miyazawa Y, Masumoto Y, Varlamov SM, Miyama T (2012) Transport simulation of the radionuclide from the shelf to open ocean around Fukushima. Cont Shelf Res 50–51:16–29
Miyazawa Y, Masumoto Y, Varlamov SM, Miyama T, Takigawa M, Honda M, Saino T (2013) Inverse estimation of source parameters of oceanic radioactivity dispersion models associated with the Fukushima accident. Biogeosciences 10:2349–2363
Nakajima H, Koarai M (2011) Assessment of tsunami flood situation from the Great East Japan earthquake. Bull Geospat Inf Auth Jpn 59:55–66
Nakanishi M, Niino H (2009) Development of an improved turbulence closure model for the atmospheric boundary layer. J Meteorol Soc Jpn 87:895–912
Nakata H, Kannan K, Nasu T, Cho H-S, Sinclair E, Takemura A (2006) Perfluorinated contaminants in sediments and aquatic organisms collected from shallow water and tidal flat areas of the Ariake Sea, Japan: environmental fate of perfluorooctane sulfonate in aquatic ecosystems. Env Sci Tech 40:4916–4921
Showstack R (2011) Oceanographer tracks marine debris from the Japan tsunami and other incidents. EOS Trans AGU 92(37):306
Smagorinsky J (1963) General circulation experiments with the primitive equations. I. The basic experiment. Mon Wea Rev 91:99–164
Yamashita N, Kannan K, Taniyasu S, Horii Y, Okazawa T, Petrick G, Gamo T (2004) Analysis of perfluorinated acids at partsper-quadrillion levels in seawater using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Environ Sci Technol 38:5522–5528
Yamashita N, Kannan K, Taniyasu S, Horii Y, Petrick G, Gamo T (2005) A global survey of perfluorinated acids in oceans. Mar Pollut Bull 51:658–668
Yamashita N, Taniyasu S, Petrick G, Wei S, Gamo T, Lam PKS, Kannan K (2008) Perfluorinated acids as novel chemical tracers of global circulation of ocean waters. Chemosphere 70:1247–1255
Yamazaki E, Yamashita N, Taniyasu S, Petrick G, Tanhua T, Kannan K, Gamo T (2012) Accidental input of perfluoroalkyl substances from land to ocean by the disaster of tsunami, EQ3.11, Japan. Organohalog Compd 74(B1B):103
Yoshida K (1955) Coastal upwelling off the California coast. Rec Oceanogr Wks Japan New Ser 2:8–20
Acknowledgments
This work is part of the Japan Coastal Ocean Predictability Experiment (JCOPE) promoted by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). We thank Dr. Gamo and the staff of the Atmosphere Ocean Research Institute (AORI), University of Tokyo, for collection of seawater samples. Comments from two anonymous reviewers were helpful in improving the earlier versions of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Miyazawa, Y., Yamashita, N., Taniyasu, S. et al. Oceanic dispersion simulation of perfluoroalkyl substances in the Western North Pacific associated with the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. J Oceanogr 70, 535–547 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-014-0250-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-014-0250-8