Model inter-comparison of atmospheric Cs-137 from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

Kitayama, Kyo*; Morino, Yu*; Takigawa, Masayuki*; Nakajima, Teruyuki*; Hayami, Hiroshi*; Nagai, Haruyasu  ; Terada, Hiroaki   ; Saito, Kazuo*; Shimbori, Toshiki*; Kajino, Mizuo*; Sekiyama, Tsuyoshi*; Dider, D.*; Mathieu, A.*; Ohara, Toshimasa*; Tsuruta, Haruo*; Oura, Yasuji*; Ebihara, Mitsuru*; Shibata, Tokushi*

For the evaluation of the validity and variability of atmospheric transport model results, we compared results of seven models submitted for the model inter-comparison project of Science Council of Japan to simulate Cs released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Model reproducibility was assessed with the observed hourly atmospheric concentrations of Cs in Tohoku and Kanto regions. Among nine plumes from 12 to 21 in March 2011, performance of the models was the best for the plume which dispersed over the Kanto region in 15 March. The models generally reproduced the observed Cs concentrations in plumes which widely spread inland of Tohoku or Kanto regions. By contrast, the models largely underestimated the observed Cs concentrations for the case which passed coastal areas of Japan. Ensemble average of seven models showed reasonable performance for most of plumes, and no individual models reproduced better than the ensemble average.