[Water Resources Research]
Supporting Information for
The Atmospheric Transport of Iodine-129 from Fukushima to British Columbia,
Canada and its Deposition and Transport into Groundwater
Matt N. Herod1, Martin Suchy2, R. Jack Cornett1, W.E. Kieser1, Ian D. Clark1, Gwyn
Graham2
1
André E. Lalonde Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Lab, Department of Earth Science,
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
2
Environment Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Contents of this file
Figures S1 to S5
Additional Supporting Information (Files uploaded separately)
Table S1: Lithology of groundwater wells ABB03 and PB-20
Table S2: Table of vadose zone modelling input data used in VS2DTI.
Table S3: Results of 129I, 127I, 129I/127I in precipitation samples from Vancouver, Saturna
Island and NADP site WA19 for pre and post Fukushima time periods.
Table S4: Results of 129I, 127I, 129I/127I in groundwater samples from ABB03 and PB20 for
pre and post Fukushima time periods.
Introduction
This supporting information provides tables of raw data from which the interpretation and
conclusions of the article are drawn. It also contains several figures that are referred to
in the article as evidence for certain logical steps.
1
Figure S1: Cross section of ASA sediments at a gravel pit located near ABB-03 and PB20. Red lines mark lithology or grain size changes observed from the picture. Note the
presence of large cobbles and boulders as well as sub-vertical, poorly sorted beds. Pen
(17 cm) for scale. Photo taken by Dr. Diana Allen and is used with permission and was
also used in [McArthur et al., 2010].
2
Figure S2: HYSPLIT back trajectory showing the source of air parcels in Vancouver
ending March 21, 2011. Note that several trajectories pass over Japan and could have
conducted radionuclides from Fukushima to Vancouver
3
Figure S3: HYSPLIT back trajectory showing the source of air parcels in Vancouver
ending July 8, 2011. Several air parcels pass over Russia and Japan and could be
conducting a release of 129I from a nuclear fuel reprocessing facility.
4
Figure S4 – A land use change involving clearing of an upgradient woodlot from winter
to summer 2011 and an application of manure occurred from the fall of 2011 to spring
2012. These changes induced a spike both the nitrate concentration and δ15N within a
few months at the well screen indicating that transport from the ground surface to the
well screen was very rapid. The spike persisted for approximately 1 year which is far
longer than previous seasonal variation in nitrate concentrations. PC-25 is a shallow
groundwater well, very similar to those sampled in terms of lithology and screen depth. It
is located less than a kilometer away from PB-20 and in between ABB-03 and PB-20.
5
Figure S5: Temporal variation in the 129I/127I ratio in groundwater in ABB03 and PB20.
The solid vertical line shows the date of the Fukushima accident and the dashed
horizontal line shows the median of each dataset respectively.
6