Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 90 (2006) 163e171

www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvrad

The extremely high 137Cs inventory in the

Sulu Sea: a possible mechanism
Masatoshi Yamada a,*, Zhong-Liang Wang a,b, Jian Zheng a
a

Nakaminato Laboratory for Marine Radioecology, Environmental Radiation Effects Research Group,
National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Isozaki 3609, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki 311-1202, Japan
b
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guanshui Road 46, Guiyang 550002, China
Received 4 April 2006; received in revised form 9 June 2006; accepted 23 June 2006
Available online 28 July 2006

Abstract
Large-volume seawater samples were collected in the Sulu and South China Seas and their 137Cs activities were determined by g-ray spectrometry using a low background type high-purity Ge detector. Vertical distributions of 137Cs activity showed an exponential decrease in the South China Sea, whereas
a subsurface maximum at 200 m depth and monotonic decrease below 300 m were observed in the
Sulu Sea. A significant difference in intermediate water 137Cs activities in the 500e2000 m depth was observed between the Sulu and South China Seas, i.e., the 137Cs activities in the Sulu Sea were remarkably
higher than those in the South China Sea. The difference in the 137Cs inventory below 500 m was
w1200 Bq m
2 between the Sulu and South China Seas. The 137Cs total inventory of 3200 Bq m
2 in
the Sulu Sea was 5.7 times higher than that expected from global fallout. A possible mechanism controlling this extremely high 137Cs total inventory may be inflows of the 137Cs rich water masses through the
Luzon Strait, lateral transport across the Mindoro Strait into the Sulu Sea, and then subduction into the
deep layer in the basin.
2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: 137Cs activity; Water column inventory; Transport mechanism; North Pacific Tropical Water; North Pacific
Intermediate Water; Sulu Sea; South China Sea

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 81 29 265 7130; fax: 81 29 265 9883.

E-mail address: m_yamada@nirs.go.jp (M. Yamada).
0265-931X/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2006.06.013

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M. Yamada et al. / J. Environ. Radioactivity 90 (2006) 163e171

1. Introduction
The long-lived fission product 137Cs (half-life of 30.07 yr) has been added to the surface
oceans mainly from the fallout of atmospheric nuclear weapons testing (UNSCEAR, 2000).
There were two major sources of 137Cs in seawater in the Pacific Ocean: global (stratospheric)
fallout which occurred mainly in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and local fallout from the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshall Islands which occurred mainly in the early 1950s. Aarkrog (2003) has estimated that the total 137Cs inventory by the year 2000 in the Pacific and
Indian Oceans was 229.8 PBq; i.e., 157.8 PBq from global fallout and 72.0 PBq from local fallout. It has also been estimated that 137Cs inventories at the latitude of 0e30 N in the Pacific and
Indian Oceans were 50.6 PBq from global fallout and 36.0 PBq from local fallout. Vertical distributions and inventories of 137Cs in the water column have been well investigated in the North
Pacific Ocean (e.g., Bowen et al., 1980; Nagaya and Nakamura, 1981, 1984, 1987; Aoyama and
Hirose, 1995; Povinec et al., 2003a).
The South China Sea is a large marginal sea with an area of 3.5  106 km2 and it has a central
basin with a maximum depth exceeding 5000 m (Fig. 1). It joins the Pacific Ocean through the
Luzon Strait (sill depth of w2200 m) where the Pacific water enters the South China Sea (e.g.,
Li et al., 1998; Chu et al., 1998; Alibo and Nozaki, 2000). The Sulu Sea is a small basin surrounded by shallow shelves and islands with a maximum depth of w5600 m. The shallow sill
depths (<420 m) prevent deep water of Sulu Sea from communicating with that of the South
China, Philippine and Celebes Seas.
Measurements of 137Cs in seawater have been found to be useful for tracing the water-mass
movement (e.g., Bowen and Sugihara, 1965; Broecker, 1966; Bowen et al., 1980; Livingston
et al., 1985; Cochran et al., 1987; Smith et al., 1990; Papucci and Delfanti, 1999; Povinec

Fig. 1. Map showing the sampling locations. Black circles represent sampling locations for this study and black squares
represent sites from Aoyama et al. (2000) and Povinec et al. (2003a). The black arrows are a schematic representation of
the flow of the deep waters into the Southeast Asian sea basins (Broecker et al., 1986).

M. Yamada et al. / J. Environ. Radioactivity 90 (2006) 163e171

165

et al., 2003b). However, vertical distributions of 137Cs activity in water column in the Southeast
Asian Seas and their use as a water-mass tracer have been poorly investigated.
The aims of this study are (1) to measure the 137Cs activities in seawater collected in the
Sulu and South China Seas; (2) to compare the obtained 137Cs inventories with those reported
in the literature and the integrated deposition density expected by global fallout at the same
latitude; (3) to delineate the 137Cs transport process by water-mass circulation; and (4) to discuss a possible mechanism controlling the high 137Cs total inventory in the Sulu Sea.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Sample collection
Large-volume seawater samples (w250 L each) were collected from the subsurface to the bottom in
the Sulu Sea (PA-1; 8 500 N, 121 480 E, water depth 5050 m) and the South China Sea (PA-11;
15 260 N, 115 200 E, water depth 4234 m) with acoustically triggered quadruple PVC sampling bottles
(N12-1000; Nichiyu-Giken-Kogyo Co., Ltd.) during the Piscis Austrinus Expedition (KH-96-5 Cruise,
from December 19, 1996 to February 18, 1997) of the R/V Hakuho-Maru (Fig. 1). The surface seawater
samples were collected from the ships deck by using an electric pump. For measurements of transuranic
elements, 230Th, 231Pa, 10Be and 137Cs activities, about 250 L of an unfiltered water sample were acidified
with HCl to a pH of about 2 and then 3 g of Fe3 and 40 mg of Cs carriers were added (Nakanishi et al.,
1995). After standing for more than 2 h, the solution was neutralized with ammonia solution to form iron
hydroxide precipitate together with the actinides. The precipitate was separated from most of the water
and transferred to a land-based laboratory for further treatment (Nagaya and Nakamura, 1984; Nakanishi
et al., 1990, 1995). The supernatants were then subjected to measurement of 137Cs activities. The supernatant was acidified with HNO3 to a pH of 1e2 and then Cs was adsorbed onto 100 g of ammonium molybdophosphate (AMP) and brought back to the land-based laboratory for further treatment (Nagaya and
Nakamura, 1981).
2.2. Analytical procedure
The analytical procedure for 137Cs determination in seawater was the same as that described previously
(Yamada et al., 2006). The AMP was dried and put into a plastic container. The activities of 137Cs on AMP
were determined by g-ray spectrometry using a low background type high-purity Ge detector (EGPC-60210-R, Eurisys Mesures), with a relative efficiency of 64.5%, an energy resolution (FWHM) of 1.80 keV
at 1.33 MeV and a useful volume of 245.5 cm3. The chemical yields of 137Cs were determined by the
recovery of the added stable Cs carrier. The stable Cs concentrations were measured by a quadrupole-type ICP-MS (HP-4500, Yokogawa Analytical Systems) after the dissolution of AMP in NaOH
solution.

3. Results and discussion

Analytical results for 137Cs activities are given in Table 1 together with salinities and
temperatures. The 137Cs activities are corrected for decay to the date of sample collection.
3.1. Vertical distributions of

137

Cs activity

Vertical distributions of 137Cs activity in the water column collected from the Sulu Sea (Stn.
PA-1) and South China Sea (Stn. PA-11) are shown in Fig. 2. The 137Cs activities in surface
waters in 1997 ranged from 2.4 to 2.8 Bq m
3, which are typical of current day levels in the

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M. Yamada et al. / J. Environ. Radioactivity 90 (2006) 163e171

Table 1
137
Cs activities, salinities and temperatures in seawater from the Sulu and South China Seasa
Csb (Bq m
3)

137

Station

Sampling date (mm/dd/yy)

Depth (m)

Salinity

Temperature ( C)

PA-1 (Sulu Sea)

12/24/96
12/25/96
12/25/96
12/25/96
12/25/96
12/24/96
12/24/96
12/24/96
12/24/96
12/25/96
12/25/96
12/25/96
12/24/96
12/24/96
12/24/96
12/24/96

0
100
199
299
502
746
1000
1236
1502
2003
2496
2958
3984
4650
4931
5032

33.670
34.263
34.526
34.482
34.465
34.462
34.456
34.458
34.426
34.465
34.470
34.471
e
34.475
34.476
34.475

e
21.90
14.55
12.73
10.89
10.23
10.09
10.08
10.07
10.15
10.20
10.28
10.42
10.55
10.59
10.59

2.43  0.06
2.71  0.12
2.96  0.09
2.15  0.06
2.08  0.06
1.67  0.07
1.34  0.07
0.84  0.07
0.91  0.04
0.29  0.05
0.17  0.03
<0.07
<0.07
<0.07
<0.07
<0.07

PA-11 (South
China Sea)

2/11/97
2/12/97
2/12/97
2/12/97
2/12/97
2/12/97
2/12/97
2/11/97
2/11/97
2/11/97
2/11/97
2/12/97
2/12/97

0
98
194
295
392
497
735
1000
1212
1457
1984
2491
2966

33.020
34.563
34.566
34.485
34.435
34.424
34.457
34.534
34.569
34.592
34.614
34.620
34.619

e
19.47
14.60
12.13
10.27
8.766
6.243
4.394
3.570
2.943
2.492
2.380
2.369

2.79  0.09
2.82  0.08
2.61  0.09
2.54  0.10
2.05  0.08
1.57  0.07
0.81  0.14
0.38  0.05
0.13  0.03
<0.07
<0.07
<0.07
<0.07

a
b

The 137Cs activities are corrected for decay to the date of sample collection.
The errors quoted for 137Cs activities are 1s values derived from counting statistics.

western North Pacific between 10 N and 30 N, and Sulu and South China Seas (Bourlat et al.,
1996; Povinec et al., 2003a; Yamada et al., 2006). The distribution profiles of 137Cs activity at
the Sulu and South China Seas differed from each other. There was an exponential decrease of
137
Cs activities from the subsurface to 1500 m depth in the South China Sea. However, a subsurface 137Cs activity maximum at 200 m depth was observed in the Sulu Sea and it monotonically decreased with increasing depth below 300 m. The most striking feature is that
a difference of about a factor of 2e6 could be observed in intermediate water 137Cs activities
in the 750e1250 m depth between Stns. PA-1 and PA-11, i.e., the 137Cs activities below 750 m
in the Sulu Sea were significantly higher than those in the South China Sea.
3.2. Water column inventories
The 137Cs inventories in the water column are given in Table 2, together with inventory percentages in each depth interval of the water column. The inventories are represented by dividing
the water column into four depth intervals: i.e., 0e500 m, 500e1000 m, 1000e1500 m, below
1500 m to the bottom. The 137Cs inventory is calculated by linear interpolation of the 137Cs

M. Yamada et al. / J. Environ. Radioactivity 90 (2006) 163e171

Fig. 2. Vertical distributions of

167

137

Cs activity in the Sulu Sea (black squares) and the South China Sea (open circles).

activity determined at each depth. The 137Cs activity below detection limit of 0.07 Bq m
3 is
approximated as 0.07 Bq m
3 in the water column inventory calculation.
The 137Cs inventory of 1220 Bq m
2 over the depth interval 0e500 m in the Sulu Sea (PA-1)
was the same as that in the South China Sea (PA-11), but there was a significant difference for
the inventory percentages in the whole water column between Stns. PA-1 and PA-11 (i.e., 38%
at Stn. PA-1; 63% at Stn. PA-11). The 137Cs inventory of w1960 Bq m
2 below 500 m at Stn.
PA-1 corresponded to approximately 60% of the whole water column inventory, while it was
only 40% (w720 Bq m
2) at Stn. PA-11. The percentages of the 137Cs inventory in the
0e1000 m depth interval were about 65% and 90% at Stns. PA-1 and PA-11, respectively, suggesting that a large portion of 137Cs remained in the upper layer at Stn. PA-11. The difference in
the 137Cs inventory below 500 m between Stns. PA-1 and PA-11 was w1200 Bq m
2. These
findings indicated that significant amounts of 137Cs rich water were conveyed into the deep
layers at Stn. PA-1. Furthermore, in spite of being at a lower latitude than the South China
Sea, the total inventory of 3200 Bq m
2 for the Sulu Sea was remarkably higher than that of
1900 Bq m
2 for the South China Sea.
Table 2
The 137Cs inventories and inventory percentages in each depth interval of the water column
Depth interval (m)

PA-1 (Sulu Sea)

PA-11 (South China Sea)

2

Inventory (Bq m )
0e500
500e1000
1000e1500
1500ebottom
Total

Percentage

Inventory (Bq m
2)

Percentage

1220
850
490
<620

38
27
15
20

1220
440
90
<190

63
23
5
9

<3200

100

<1900

100

M. Yamada et al. / J. Environ. Radioactivity 90 (2006) 163e171

168

Table 3
137
Cs inventories in the water column, deposition densities of atmospheric global fallout and their ratiosa
Station

Location

PA-1
PA-11
RY-9701
IAEA97-6
IAEA97-7
IAEA97-8

8 500 N
15 260 N
3 000 N
11 270 N
11 300 N
15 310 N

121 480 E
115 200 E
137 000 E
164 530 E
161 450 E
159 270 E

137
Cs inventory
(Bq m
2)

Global falloutb
(Bq m
2)

Ratio to GFc

Reference

3200
1900
w1300
630
650
1900

560
830
560
830
830
830

5.7
2.3
2.3
0.8
0.8
2.3

This study
This study
Aoyama et al. (2000)
Povinec et al. (2003a)
Povinec et al. (2003a)
Povinec et al. (2003a)

The 137Cs activities are corrected for decay to January 1997.

The expected deposition density of atmospheric global fallout (UNSCEAR, 2000).
c
Ratio of the measured 137Cs inventory to the expected deposition density of atmospheric global fallout at the same
latitude.
b

The 137Cs inventories reported at low latitudes of the western North Pacific Ocean and in
this study are given in Table 3. The decay of 137Cs was normalized to January 1997. The
latitudinal 137Cs deposition density of atmospheric global fallout is calculated from the data
set of 90Sr in UNSCEAR (2000). The 137Cs inventory (3200 Bq m
2) in the Sulu Sea was
5.7 times higher than that (560 Bq m
2) of the integrated deposition density of atmospheric
global fallout at the same latitude of 0e10 N (UNSCEAR, 2000) and was about 2.5 times
higher than that (w1300 Bq m
2) reported by Aoyama et al. (2000), also at the same latitude of 0e10 N (Stn. RY-9701 in Table 3). This unusually high inventory for the Sulu Sea
was equivalent to those (2700e2800 Bq m
2) reported at the middle latitude (30e35 N) region of the North Pacific by Povinec et al. (2003a). Aoyama et al. (2006) have recently
reported a geographical 137Cs deposition density as grid data in 10 latitude by 10 longitude. They have estimated the 137Cs deposition density in 15 N and 155 E of the South
China Sea area in this study to be 895 Bq m
2 (decay corrected to January 1997). The
137
Cs inventory of 1900 Bq m
2 in the South China Sea was 2.3 times higher than the
global fallout inventory and 2.1 times higher than the estimation by Aoyama et al.
(2006). Ito et al. (2005) also have reported that the 137Cs inventory in the Japan Sea
was 2.0 times on average higher than that by global fallout. Moreover, the 137Cs inventory
in the South China Sea was similar to the high value reported at the same latitude of
w15 300 N (Stn. IAEA97-8 in Table 3). Stn. IAEA97-8 was located close to Bikini and
Enewetak atolls. High inventories of 239240Pu and 241Am at Stn. IAEA97-8 also were
observed due to close-in fallout derived from large scale nuclear explosions at Bikini and
Enewetak atolls (Povinec et al., 2003a).
3.3. A possible mechanism for high

137

Cs total inventory in the Sulu Sea

The vertical distributions of potential temperature and salinity for the Sulu and South China
Seas are shown in Fig. 3 (Gamo, 1997; Nozaki et al., 1999; Alibo and Nozaki, 2000). There is
a subsurface salinity maximum at about 135 m in the South China Sea (Stn. PA-11), representing the inflow of North Pacific Tropical Water (NPTW) through the Luzon Strait from the West
Philippine Sea (Alibo and Nozaki, 2000). Because of a sill depth of w2200 m in the Luzon
Strait, NPTW and North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) can exchange freely between
the West Philippine and South China Seas. Waters deeper than 2200 m in the West Philippine

M. Yamada et al. / J. Environ. Radioactivity 90 (2006) 163e171

169

Fig. 3. Vertical distributions of salinity and potential temperature in the Sulu and South China Seas (Gamo, 1997;
Nozaki et al., 1999; Alibo and Nozaki, 2000).

Sea, which are the Pacific Deep Water (PDW) and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), cannot
enter the South China Sea (Chen et al., 2006). The core of NPTW lies well above the sill depth
of 420 m in the Mindoro Strait. Its spreading into the Sulu Sea is not hampered by topography.
The salinity minimum at about 520 m in the South China Sea can also be seen because of the
intrusion of NPIW (Li et al., 1998; Chu et al., 1998; Alibo and Nozaki, 2000). Quadfasel et al.
(1990) have suggested that a low-salinity core (S < 34.46) originating from this minimum
can be traced across the Sulu Sea in the depth layer 600e1400 m. Nozaki et al. (1999) also
have suggested that the low-salinity water observed at 700e1100 m depth in the Sulu Sea
must result from lateral transport of the South China Sea water into the Sulu Sea basin, across
the sill in the Mindoro Strait and subsequent subduction, and that the renewal occurs sporadically along the side slopes, being followed by cascade-type vertical mixing. The deep circulation of the Sulu Sea is forced by an inflow of only the upper NPIW from the South China
Sea through the Mindoro Strait (Chen et al., 2006). Aoyama and Hirose (1995) have observed
that the 137Cs activities in the surface waters along the 137 E transect between 7 N and 30 N
in the Philippine Sea were 3.4e10.6 Bq m
3 and did not show clear temporal variation during
the period from 1979 to 1988. They have also reported that the vertical distribution of 137Cs
activity showed a subsurface maximum of 7.1 Bq m
3 at 286 m depth and high water column
inventory in the West Philippine Sea (27 460 N, 130 450 E; sampling data 18 March, 1987).
Higher 137Cs activity and total inventory in the Sulu Sea than those in the South China Sea
were observed below 500 m, which is just below the sill depth of 420 m. A possible mechanism
to explain the extremely high 137Cs total inventory in the Sulu Sea may be inflows of the 137Cs
rich NPTW and NPIW through the Luzon Strait from the West Philippine Sea, and lateral transport across the Mindoro Strait into the Sulu Sea, then conveyance into the deep layer in the Sulu
Sea basin.

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M. Yamada et al. / J. Environ. Radioactivity 90 (2006) 163e171

4. Conclusions
This study has provided vertical distributions of 137Cs activities in the Sulu and South China
Seas. The 137Cs activities below 750 m were significantly higher in the Sulu Sea than in the
South China Sea. The water column total inventory of 137Cs in the Sulu Sea was 5.7 times
higher than the integrated deposition density expected from the global fallout at the same latitude. This unusually high 137Cs inventory was attributable to the inflows of North Pacific Tropical Water and upper North Pacific Intermediate Water into the Sulu Sea and subsequent
subduction into the deep layer. To the best of the authors knowledge, this is the first time
that the vertical distributions of 137Cs activity and its water column total inventory have
been reported in the Sulu and South China Seas.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr. Toshitaka Gamo, and captain, officers and crew of the
R/V Hakuho-Maru for their collaboration in the sampling during the KH-96-5 cruise. The
authors are also grateful to Drs. Takashi Nakanishi, Tatsuo Aono and Jing Zhang for their help
with sample collection. Dr. Takahiro Nakanishi is thanked for preparing the sampling location
map. The authors thank the two anonymous reviewers for useful comments on the manuscript.
Z.-L. Wang acknowledges a postdoctoral fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion
of Science.
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