Improving taxonomic classification of marine zooplankton by molecular approach: registration of taxonomically verified 18S and 28S rRNA gene sequences.

Background: Zooplankton plays an important role in the marine ecosystem. A high level of taxonomic expertise is necessary for accurate species identification based on morphological characteristics. As an alternative method to morphological classification, we focused on a molecular approach using 18S and 28S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequences.

Intrusion of Fukushima-derived radiocaesium into subsurface water due to formation of mode waters in the North Pacific.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in March 2011 released radiocaesium ((137)Cs and (134)Cs) into the North Pacific Ocean. Meridional transects of the vertical distribution of radiocaesium in seawater were measured along 147 °E and 155 °E in October-November 2012, 19 months after the accident. These measurements revealed subsurface peaks in radiocaesium concentrations at locations corresponding to two mode waters, Subtropical Mode Water and Central Mode Water.

Five-minute resolved spatial distribution of radiocesium in sea sediment derived from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The spatial distributions of radiocesium concentration in sea sediment to a core depth of 14 cm were investigated in the offshore region from the Fukushima Prefecture to the northern part of the Ibaraki Prefecture in February and July 2012, at a spatial resolution of 5 min of latitude and longitude. The concentrations in the area south of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) were generally higher than those in the area north of it. In the southern area, a band of especially high concentration with a width about 20 km was present in the region shallower than 100 m, and a narrow minimal concentration band was found along the 200-m isobaths.

Southwest intrusion of 134Cs and 137Cs derived from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident in the Western North Pacific.

Enormous quantities of radionuclides were released into the ocean via both atmospheric deposition and direct release as a result of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) accident. This study discusses the southward dispersion of FNPP-derived radioactive cesium (Cs) in subsurface waters. The southernmost point where we found the FNPP-derived (134)Cs (1.