About WHOI WHOI People Directory Our Radioactive Ocean Menu Take a Sample CURRENT RESULTS Learn About Radiation News & Events HOW RADIOACTIVE IS OUR OCEAN? The release of radioactive contaminants from Fukushima remains an unprecedented event for the people of Japan and the Pacific Ocean. Help scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution understand the ongoing spread of radiation across the Pacific and its evolving impacts on the ocean.
There currently is no U.S. or international agency monitoring the arrival of radioactive water from Fukushima along the West Coast. As well, no organizations monitor water around nuclear power plants once it reaches the ocean. Although we don't expect levels to be dangerously high in the ocean or in our seafood as the plume spreads across the Pacific, or away from other nuclear discharge, this evolving situation demands careful, consistent monitoring to make sure predictions of contaminant dispersal are tru
We at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution already have dozens of seawater samples from the coast of Japan out to the middle of the Pacific, but now we need new samples —from up and down the West Coast of North America and anywhere else we can get them. The trouble is, these samples are expensive to collect and analyze. That is why we are turning to you, your community, and your social network for help.