Marine ecosystems are impacted by multiple stressors (temperature, ocean acidification, hypoxia/eutrophication, etc.) which can affect ecosystem function, structure and dynamics in complex ways. An emerging question is: do changing patterns of radioactivity constitute an additional stressor to the ecosystem in the North Pacific? This question can be addressed by conceptual frameworks and low-order, process-based models that simulate the cycling of radionuclides through North Pacific environmental compartments. These results can be used by health physicists to predict radiological doses and by ecosystem scientists to explore hypotheses linking ecosystem dynamics to variability in the natural and anthropogenic radiation environments.
Reports
Session and Workshop Summaries
PICES-2016:
W10, Distribution and risk analysis of radionuclides in the North Pacific
PICES-2015:
W5, Monitoring and assessment of environmental radioactivity in the North Pacific
PICES-2014:
S3, Tipping points: defining reference points for ecological indicators of multiple stressors in coastal and marine ecosystem:
Presentation by Yusheng Zhang
MEQ Paper Session
Presentations by John N. Smith, Galina S. Borisenko
PICES-2013:
MEQ Paper Session
Joint SCOR WG 146/PICES WG 30 review paper, Fukushima Daiichi–Derived radionuclides in the ocean: Transport, fate, and impacts. 2017. Annual Review of Marine Science 9: 173–203.
Report of Study Group on Radionuclide Science in the North Pacific Ocean
Study Group report
SCOR WG 146