Lagrangian study of surface transport in the Kuroshio Extension area based on simulation of propagation of Fukushima-derived radionuclides

Lagrangian approach is applied to study near-surface large-scale transport in the Kuroshio Extension area using a simulation with synthetic particles advected by AVISO altimetric velocity field. A material line technique is applied to find the origin of water masses in cold-core cyclonic rings pinched off from the jet in summer 2011. Tracking and Lagrangian maps provide the evidence of cross-jet transport. Fukushima derived caesium isotopes are used as Lagrangian tracers to study transport and mixing in the area a few months after the March of 2011 tsunami that caused a heavy damage of the Fukushima nuclear power plant (FNPP). Tracking maps are computed to trace the origin of water parcels with measured levels of Cs-134 and Cs-137 concentrations collected in two R/V cruises in June and July 2011 in the large area of the Northwest Pacific. It is shown that Lagrangian simulation is useful to finding the surface areas that are potentially dangerous due to the risk of radioactive contamination. The results of simulation are supported by tracks of the surface drifters which were deployed in the area

Lagrangian tools to monitor transport and mixing in the ocean

We apply the Lagrangian approach to study surface transport and mixing in the ocean. New tools have been developed to track the motion of water masses, their origin and fate and to quantify transport and mixing. To illustrate the methods used we compute the Lagrangian synoptic maps a comparatively small marine bay, the Peter the Great Bay in the Japan Sea near Vladivostok city (Russia), and in a comparatively large region in the North Pacific, the Kuroshio Extension system. In the first case we use velocity data from a Japan Sea circulation numerical model and in the second one the velocity data are derived from satellite altimeter measurements of anomalies of the sea height distributed by AVISO