As a postdoc, you studied the spread of radioactive contaminants after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. What was your most important finding?
During our first expedition off the coast of Fukushima, we were able to quantify the amounts of radioactivity that had been released into the Pacific Ocean. These estimated quantities did not put living organisms at risk. However, since concentrations of some radionuclides had increased by up to 2 to 3 orders of magnitude, we were able to use the spread of Cesium-137 to build an understanding of the surface circulation in the Pacific Ocean.
