Predicting sediment and cesium-137 discharge from catchments in eastern Fukushima

Kitamura, Akihiro   ; Yamaguchi, Masaaki ; Kurikami, Hiroshi  ; Yui, Mikazu; Onishi, Yasuo*

Amount of soil and cesium losses in Eastern Fukushima Prefecture is evaluated by a simple and fast simulation model which we developed utilizing the universal soil loss equation and the geographical information system. We focused on the land use factor of the universal soil loss equation in this study. It was estimated that the forest occupies 64% of the total land surface of the study area, but only accounts for 24% of total soil runoff and 33% of total cesium dispersion. The most contributing component comes from the crop field, while the forest becomes the second. Also, calculation was performed for each river basins and results were compared with field monitoring data.