Intercomparison of atmospheric transport models using 1 km grid meteorological data for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident

Yamazawa, Hiromi*; Sato, Yosuke*; Sekiyama, Tsuyoshi*; Kajino, Mizuo*; Goto, Daisuke*; Morino, Yu*; Kondo, Hiroaki*; Qurel, A.*; Fang, S.*; Takigawa, Masayuki*; Terada, Hiroaki   ; Kadowaki, Masanao   ; Uchida, Junya*; Sato, Yosuke*

Following the previous atmospheric transport model intercomparison project (MIP2), a new model intercomparison (MIP3) has been conducted in which, out of 12 models in MIP2, 9 models are participating. The main aim of MIP3 is to examine the effects of using a refined meteorological data with a finer horizontal resolution of 1 km. The horizontal distribution Cs-137 deposition in the eastern part of Honshu Island calculated by the models were compared with the aerial survey results to find that the simple ensemble average of the 9 models was a little worse than that of the 12-model ensemble in MIP2 statistically. However, in the sector in the northwestern direction from the accidental site, the deposition pattern by the MIP3 ensemble is more consistent with the survey result compared with that of MIP2. As for the atmospheric concentrations, although the model performance for the plumes that traveled over wider areas was slightly poorer for MIP3 than MIP2, the MIP3 ensemble generally showed better performance for the plumes that affected the near area in the Hamadori area. This better performance can be attributed to the better representation of topography in the meteorological simulation.