Tag Archives: Citizen Science

Coastal, Monitoring

April 2015 InFORMal Monitoring Update

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April2015 w Labels
InFORMal monitoring results from samples collected in February and March 2015

Results* from early February and March are now available from 10/13 of the InFORM sampling locations. Recent samples from Bamfield, Vancouver, and Powell River are still being processed. To date, no InFORM coastal samples have detectable (detection limit ~0.2 Bq m-3) levels of 134Cs, the radionuclide that is the fingerprint of Fukushima derived radiation due to its short half life (~2 years). An interesting note is that the February Tofino sample was collected on the 7th, just 12 days before the ORO sample collected in Ucluelet that was the first to contain measureable 134Cs. Continue reading April 2015 InFORMal Monitoring Update →

Algae, British Columbia, Cesium, Peer Reviewed

Kelp Watch 2015: Most Recent Results Looking for Fukushima Contamination

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By Jay T. Cullen

The Raincoast Education Society has partnered with the University of Victoria and California State University to carry out radionuclide sampling of sea water and kelp, respectively, in Clayoquot Sound. http://raincoasteducation.org/radiation-monitoring

 The purpose of this post is to report the most recent results of Kelp Watch 2015 , a program dedicated to monitoring for the presence of Fukushima contamination off our Pacific Coast. This post is the latest in a series dedicated to the public dissemination of information about the impacts of the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster on the health of the North Pacific Ocean ecosystem and health of North American residents. New results from the third sampling period (January through March 2015) of Kelp Watch 2015 were released on April 6, 2015 and can be found here. As with previously reported results here, here and here no radioactive isotopes from Fukushima were detected in kelp growing at sampling sites spread along our Pacific coast. The absence of 134Cs in kelp suggests that ocean transport of Fukushima contamination had yet to reach North American coastal water. As the contaminated water reaches the shoreline in the coming months Kelp Watch 2015 will help to track the arrival of the plume in time and space. Continue reading Kelp Watch 2015: Most Recent Results Looking for Fukushima Contamination →