Contribution of Asian dust to atmospheric deposition of radioactive cesium ((137)Cs).

Both Asian dust (kosa) transported from the East Asian continent and locally suspended dust near monitoring sites contribute to the observed atmospheric deposition of (137)Cs in Japan. To estimate the relative contribution of these dust phenomena to the total (137)Cs deposition, we monitored weekly deposition of mineral particles and (137)Cs in spring. Deposition of (137)Cs from a single Asian dust event was 62.3 mBq m(-2) and accounted for 67% of the total (137)Cs deposition during the entire monitoring period. Furthermore, we found high (137)Cs specific activity in the Asian dust deposition sample. Although local dust events contributed to (137)Cs deposition, their contribution was considerably smaller than that of Asian dust. We conclude that the primary source of atmospheric (137)Cs in Japan is dust transported from the East Asian continent.