Iodine-129 concentration in seawater near Fukushima before and after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Biogeosciences DOI 10.5194/bg-10-3839-2013 14 June 2013 Anthropogenic radionuclides were released into the environment in large quantities by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1FNPP) accident. To evaluate accident-derived 129I, the 129I concentrations in seawater before and after the accident were compared. Read more
Impacts of aircraft emissions on the air quality near the ground Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics DOI 10.5194/acp-13-5505-2013 6 June 2013 The continuing increase in demand for commercial aviation transport raises questions about the effects of resulting emissions on the environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate, using a global chemistry transport model, to what extent aviation emissions outside the boundary layer influence air quality in the boundary layer. Read more
Palaeoclimatological perspective on river basin hydrometeorology: case of the Mekong Basin Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-2069-2013 31 May 2013 Our main aim in this paper is to develop a river basin scale approach for assessing interannual hydrometeorological and discharge variability on long, palaeological, time scales. For the development of the basin-wide approach, we used the Mekong River basin as a case study area, although the approach is also intended to be applicable to other basins. Read more
Classifying organic materials by oxygen-to-carbon elemental ratio to predict the activation regime of Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics DOI 10.5194/acp-13-5309-2013 27 May 2013 The present results suggest that atmospheric particles dominated by hydrocarbon-like organic components do not activate (i.e., insoluble regime) whereas those dominated by oxygenated organic components activate (i.e., highly soluble regime) for typical atmospheric cloud life cycles. Read more
Instant tsunami early warning based on real-time GPS – Tohoku 2011 case study Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/nhess-13-1285-2013 17 May 2013 Taking the 2011 Tohoku earthquake as an example, we demonstrate the ability of real-time GPS to provide qualified tsunami early warning within minutes. We show that in case of the Tohoku earthquake, it would be feasible to provide accurate tsunami warning as soon as 3 min after the beginning of the earthquake. Read more
Reducing cloud obscuration of MODIS snow cover area products by combining spatio-temporal techniques with a probability of snow approach Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-1809-2013 13 May 2013 This study develops a rule-based, multistep method for removing clouds from MODIS snow cover area images. The methods used include combining images from more than one satellite, time interpolation, spatial interpolation, and estimation of the probability of snow occurrence based on topographic information. Read more
Comparative assessment of predictions in ungauged basins – Part 1: Runoff-hydrograph studies Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-1783-2013 7 May 2013 The objective of this assessment is to compare studies predicting runoff hydrographs in ungauged catchments. The aim is to learn from the differences and similarities between catchments in different locations, and to interpret the differences in performance in terms of the underlying climate and landscape controls. Read more
Elusive drought: uncertainty in observed trends and short- and long-term CMIP5 projections Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DOI 10.5194/hess-17-1765-2013 7 May 2013 Our results highlight the inherent difficulty of drought quantification and the considerable likelihood range of drought projections, but also indicate regions where drought is consistently found to increase. In other regions, wide likelihood range should not be equated with low drought risk, since potential scenarios include large drought increases in key agricultural and ecosystem regions. Read more
Surface pathway of radioactive plume of TEPCO Fukushima NPP1 released 134Cs and 137Cs Biogeosciences DOI 10.5194/bg-10-3067-2013 7 May 2013 134Cs and 137Cs were released to the North Pacific Ocean by two major likely pathways, direct discharge from the Fukushima NPP1 accident site and atmospheric deposition off Honshu Islands of Japan, east and northeast of the site. High density observations of 134Cs and 137Cs in the surface water were carried out by 17 cruises of cargo ships and several research vessel cruises from March 2011 till March 2012. Read more
MERIS-based ocean colour classification with the discrete Forel–Ule scale Ocean Science DOI 10.5194/os-9-477-2013 2 May 2013 In this paper we present a new algorithm that has the merit of using the full spectral information in the visible domain to characterize natural waters in a simple and globally valid way. This Forel–Ule MERIS (FUME) algorithm converts the normalized multiband reflectance information into a discrete set of numbers using uniform colourimetric functions. Read more
