Dispersion and deposition of fallout from nuclear testing @ B. E. Moroz er av.

direction of the '*’Cs deposition pattern is significantly

265

the meteorological input data. HYSPLIT air masstrajectories (Fig. 6) clearly illustrate the significant wind shear,
which is inconsistent with the assertion that wind shear

further to the north than the Yamamotoet al. (2008) data.

However, the deposition patterns resulting from the
alternative '*’Cs activity-size distributions given in Table
1 (Fig. 4) shift the HYSPLIT fallout pattern closer to that
reported in Yamamotoet al. (2008) and clearly indicate
that the predicted '°’Cs deposition is very sensitive to the
estimated fraction of '°’Cs on particles greater than 50

was minimal (Shoikhetet al. 1998; Imanakaet al. 2005).

Although the estimated peak '*’Cs deposition density predicted by HYSPLIT in the vicinity of Dolon
(Table 9) is slightly closer to that measured by

Yamamoto et al. (2008) (corrected for decay) for the

alternative particle-size distributions than for the MI
distribution, the HYSPLIT maximum deposition density
near Dolon is still much lower than the maximum

pom. As discussed earlier, and shown in Table 1, the

distribution used for the Marshall Islands simulations
assumed only about 20% ofthe '*’Cs activity on particles
greater than 50 jzm, while the alternate distributions
assumea largerfraction of '°’Cs on particles of diameter
greater than 50 ym. As shown in Fig. 5, where the
activity on various size groups of particles is plotted
separately, the HYSPLIT simulation indicates that most
of the particles depositing in the vicinity of Dolon, and
particularly along the axis of the fallout pattern, to be
greater than 50 jm in diameter, while the particles
further from the centerline were generally less than 50
ym. However, even assuminga greaterfraction of '°’Cs
activity on large particles, the HYSPLIT pattern still
deviates from the axis of the Yamamoto data and is much
broader, presumably reflecting the wind shear present in

measured by Yamamoto et al. (2008) (corrected for

decay). However, this is to be expected since, as a result
of the predicted wind shear, the HYSPLIT fallout is
spread over a wider area compared to the Yamamoto et
al. (2008) soil data and, thus, is diluted.

Wesurmise the shift of the HYSPLIT pattern to the
north, compared to the measurements of Yamamotoetal.
(2008), to be a result of wind shear in our meteorological
data and other limitations of those data. However, it may
also partly reflect the fact that the '°’Cs activity-size
model used in HYSPLIT simulations is too crude and
may not be apportioned to give enoughofthe total '*’Cs
activity on the larger particles that deposit closer to the

5 to 30 um

35 to 60 um

78.0° E

79.5° E

81.0°E

78.0°E

79.5° E

81.0°E

T

T

T

T

T

T

51.4°N -

= 51.4°N

51.0°N F

- 51.0°N

Dolon@

50.6°N

Dolon@

— 50.6°N

|

|

|

|

|

|

T

T

T

T

T

T

51.4°N F

4

= 51.4°N

51.0°N F

4

— 51.0°N

Dolon®

50.6°N

,

Dolon @
i iar" F

I

78.0°E

79.8° E

65 to 90 um

81.0°E

78.0°E

— 50.6°N
1

J

79.5° E

81.0°E

95 to 150 um

Fig. 5. HYSPLIT-predicted fallout patterns of different particle sizes at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan
following event 1 (29 August 1949).

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