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Japan 2011. Forecasting Weather Patterns to Determine Radioactive Dispersion. What are we looking for?. Surface Winds Upper-Level Winds Precipitation. Surface Winds:. Damaged facilities lie on the Central-East coast of Japan Major population centres to the South and Southwest
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Japan 2011 Forecasting Weather Patterns to Determine Radioactive Dispersion
What are we looking for? • Surface Winds • Upper-Level Winds • Precipitation
Surface Winds: • Damaged facilities lie on the Central-East coast of Japan • Major population centres to the South and Southwest • Notable population centres to the North • Seoul and Shanghai to the West • Therefore, we hope for Westerly surface winds, to direct radioactive material towards the Pacific Ocean
Why Precipitation? • Radioactive material is scavenged by precipitation • More specifically, radioactive particles mix with water vapour particles and are transported by weather systems • When saturation occurs radioactive particles are redistributed in the form of precipitation.
Forecasting Links: • Japan Meteorological Agency: • http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html • NCAR (NOAA): • http://mag.ncep.noaa.gov/NCOMAGWEB/appcontroller • HY-Split Trajectory Model (NOAA): • http://ready.arl.noaa.gov/HYSPLIT.php
References: • National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (US) • NCEP: National Centers for Environmental Prediction • ARL: Air Resources Laboratory • ABC News: • http://www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/japan-quake-2011/nuclear-plants.htm