Establishing historical 90Sr activity in seawater of the China seas from 1963 to 2018

Wuhui Lin; Minting Mo; Kefu Yu; Jinqiu Du; Hongtao Shen; Yinghui Wang; Xianwen He; Liangliang Feng

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113476

Establishing historical ⁹⁰Sr activity in seawater of the China seas from 1963 to 2018

Mar Pollut Bull. 2022 Mar:176:113476. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113476. Epub 2022 Feb 28.

Authors

Wuhui Lin¹, Minting Mo², Kefu Yu³, Jinqiu Du⁴, Hongtao Shen⁵, Yinghui Wang⁶, Xianwen He⁷, Liangliang Feng⁷

Affiliations

¹ School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China; Guangxi Laboratory on the study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, Nanning 530004, China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Technology, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China. Electronic address: linwuhui8@163.com.
² School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
³ School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China; Guangxi Laboratory on the study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, Nanning 530004, China. Electronic address: kefuyu@scsio.ac.cn.
⁴ National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116023, China.
⁵ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Technology, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China.
⁶ School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China; Guangxi Laboratory on the study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, Nanning 530004, China.
⁷ Radiation-Environment Management and Monitoring Station of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning 530222, China.

PMID: 35240458
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113476

Abstract

Historical ⁹⁰Sr activity in seawater was established in the China seas from 1963 to 2018. Based on the exponential decrease in ⁹⁰Sr activity in seawater, the effective half-life (EHL) of ⁹⁰Sr was quantified to be 11.5 ± 1.6 a, 16.5 ± 2.4 a, 27.2 ± 6.2 a, and 26.7 ± 4.3 a in the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea, respectively. We found contrasting patterns in the EHL of ⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs in the marginal seas and open oceans that were closely related to the subtly different pathways of ⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs in marine environment. Additionally, we demonstrated that Fukushima-derived ⁹⁰Sr (<0.01 Bq/m³) would be difficult to identify in the China seas. Our study not only provided the key parameter of the EHL in marine models for predicting the ⁹⁰Sr activity in the China seas in the post-Fukushima era but also enhanced our understanding of ⁹⁰Sr behavior and its fate in marine environments.

Keywords: Boundary scavenging; Effective half-life; Fukushima Nuclear Accident; Marine biological pump; Radionuclides.

MeSH terms

China
Fukushima Nuclear Accident*
Oceans and Seas
Radiation Monitoring*
Seawater
Strontium Radioisotopes
Water Pollutants, Radioactive* / analysis

Substances

Strontium Radioisotopes
Water Pollutants, Radioactive
Strontium-90