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Sampling Fukushima

February 9, 2014

Core samples from the seafloor provide Japan Atomic Energy Agency scientist Shigeyoshi Otosaka (left) and his colleagues data for studying the dispersion and sedimentation of radionuclides from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Otasaka was part of a team of scientists onboard the R/V Daisan Kaiyu Maru in September 2013 along with WHOI geochemist Ken Buesseler, who is tracking the path of radiation from the plant as it travels across the Pacific Ocean. With growing public concern and no U.S. government or international agency monitoring the spread, Buesseler launched a citizen science effort called “How Radioactive Is Our Ocean” to collect and analyze samples along the U.S. West Coast, Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii.(Photo by Ken Buesseler, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)