Trace elements are essential micronutrients for primary producers in the ocean, supporting vital metabolic functions. However, their behavior in the northwestern Pacific remains unknown. This study investigated the behavior and benthic fluxes of Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Cd in the East/Japan Sea and the Yellow Sea. Rare earth element fractionations ([Nd/Er] PAAS and Ce/Ce* ratios) were used to trace scavenging and water mass...

To estimate the atmospheric deposition flux of 210Pb in the equatorial western Indian Ocean, we determined the dissolved ( 0.45 μm) in the water column. In addition, we calculated the atmosphere-derived dissolvable Pb in seawater using the budget of 210Pb. The dissolved 210Pb and total 210Pb were higher in the surface layer and, overall, showed a decreasing distribution with depth. In particular, radioactive 210Pb activities i...

The distributions of artificial radionuclides, radiocesium (134Cs and 137Cs) and plutonium isotopes (238Pu and 239+240Pu), in the surface water around the Korean seas (East/Japan Sea and Yellow Sea) in 2011–2012 and in three sections in the North Pacific between 2011 and 2014 were examined. The 137Cs activities in the surface water in the Korean seas in 2011 (immediately after the Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) accident o...