Highlights
- Marine radionuclides with well-constrained input histories have proven to be sensitive tracers.
- Radionuclides in oceanic compartments enable to study transport and biogeochemical processes.
- A decline in vertical mixing of upper waters in the North Pacific over recent decades was identified.
- Radionuclides were used in climate change studies in marginal seas of the NW Pacific.
Abstract
Observed global warming has profoundly affected the world’s oceans, which are experiencing increasingly frequent marine heatwaves and a slowdown of the Global Meridional Overturning Circulation. These changes disrupt ocean circulation patterns, alter biogeochemical cycles, enhance surface ocean acidification, and drive poleward migration of marine organisms. Marine radionuclides (e.g., 3H, 14C, 90Sr, 129I, 134Cs, 137Cs, and Pu isotopes), released from nuclear activities since the 1940s, provide time-resolved tracers of oceanic processes owing to their well-documented input functions and distinct chemical behaviors. Their distributions in seawater, bottom sediments, and marine biota have recorded climate-driven modifications in ocean circulation and stratification. The Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean basin on Earth, has undergone changes in recent decades under ongoing climate forcing. Long-term radionuclide observations indicate a decline in vertical mixing in the upper North Pacific Ocean, likely associated with enhanced stratification. Variability linked to Asian monsoon systems and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events is also clearly reflected in radionuclide records from the marginal seas of the Northwest Pacific. Radionuclide datasets provide essential reference benchmarks for calibrating and validating Ocean General Circulation Models and Earth System Models under future climate scenarios. To strengthen predictive capability, coordinated international, high-resolution sampling programs covering the entire world ocean are required, together with measurement campaigns employing newly developed ultra-sensitive analytical techniques. Particular attention should be given to the Southern, Arctic, and Subarctic Oceans because of their critical role in the global climate system and the current scarcity of comprehensive radionuclide data.
Povinec P. P., Hirose K., Hong G.-H., Hou X., Inomata Y., Kaizer J., Tsumune D. & Zhao X., 2026. Marine radionuclides in climate change studies: Pacific Ocean and marginal seas. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 298:108022. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2026.108022. Article.
