4 ms·

Scariest animated GIF ever: Path of radiation leakage in Japan

5 points by jawns 16y ago

timrobinson 16y ago
What are the units on this?
- gus_massa 16y ago
  And how much is dangerous?
  - timrobinson 16y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sievert http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sievert But I don't know how many Sieverts the map represents. Or if it's even depicting rate of dose over time.
    - _delirium 16y ago
      The caption mentions "units/m^3", which would seem to indicate that the "units" would be some sort of particle count, and the colors on the map are particulate density? Just a guess, though. Radiation dosage wouldn't typically be given in units per volume, would it? If we assume (no idea if this is accurate) that the units are proportionally related to radiation dosage, though, and correlate them with other reports, the map bands might be roughly nano-sieverts per hour. Completely rough and unreliable calculation to arrive at that: This animation shows a plume over the Tokyo area in the 10^3 to 10^4 units range on March 15, and peak values over the plant in the 10^5 to 10^6 units range. Other reports have radiation in Tokyo peaking roughly on the order of 1 micro-Sv, and levels at the plant on the order of hundreds of micro-Sv. So if the units were nano-Sv per hour, the orders of magnitude are about right. Not sure what the total release given as "0.10E+19 Units" at the top would mean then. Anyway, why would someone make a technical-looking graph where everything is labeled in mysterious "units"?
FreshCode 16y ago
Looks like more irrational fear-mongering akin to http://stevebeckow.com/2011/03/nuclear-fallout-map-fraud/ http://stevebeckow.com/2011/03/nuclear-fallout-map-fraud/ Who is the original source?
- JoachimSchipper 16y ago
  Well, der Spiegel is a well-known German newspaper...
GHFigs 16y ago
No, what's scary is that there are people who think radiation is measured in cubic millimeters (m^-3). I'm not about to claim it's a well-made chart, but nobody should be drawing any conclusions from any chart without knowing what it's measuring (a plume) or what the units are (m^-3).
- timrobinson 16y ago
  "units m^-3" is another way of saying "units per m^3", i.e. radiation per cubic metre. For comparison, speed is "m s^-1" and acceleration is "m s^-2". Radiation per cubic millimetre would be "units mm^-3".
gus_massa 16y ago
I found the original article where this image appears. This is a simulation, not a measurement of the actual radiation. Original Article (German) http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,750835,00.html http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,750835,00.ht... Google Traslation: http://translate.google.com.ar/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Fwissenschaft%2Fnatur%2F0%2C1518%2C750835%2C00.html http://translate.google.com.ar/translate?js=n&prev=_t&#3... EDIT: More information The Original Original Article is from ZAMG. They have many updates and variations. I will link only two: The I-131 in the title means Iodine-131. They have the linked map and a wordwide map of the (simulated) distribution of C-137 (Caesium-137): http://translate.google.com.ar/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zamg.ac.at%2Faktuell%2Findex.php%3Fseite%3D1%26artikel%3DZAMG_2011-03-15GMT08%3A26 http://translate.google.com.ar/translate?js=n&prev=_t&#3... Simulation of the radioactive material distribution if they do a short-term release whith optimal winds and if they do a continual release with changin winds: http://translate.google.com.ar/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zamg.ac.at%2Faktuell%2Findex.php%3Fseite%3D1%26artikel%3DZAMG_2011-03-12GMT12%3A19 http://translate.google.com.ar/translate?js=n&prev=_t&#3...

5 points by jawns 16y ago

timrobinson 16y ago

What are the units on this?

gus_massa 16y ago
And how much is dangerous?
- timrobinson 16y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sievert http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sievert But I don't know how many Sieverts the map represents. Or if it's even depicting rate of dose over time.
  - _delirium 16y ago
    The caption mentions "units/m^3", which would seem to indicate that the "units" would be some sort of particle count, and the colors on the map are particulate density? Just a guess, though. Radiation dosage wouldn't typically be given in units per volume, would it? If we assume (no idea if this is accurate) that the units are proportionally related to radiation dosage, though, and correlate them with other reports, the map bands might be roughly nano-sieverts per hour. Completely rough and unreliable calculation to arrive at that: This animation shows a plume over the Tokyo area in the 10^3 to 10^4 units range on March 15, and peak values over the plant in the 10^5 to 10^6 units range. Other reports have radiation in Tokyo peaking roughly on the order of 1 micro-Sv, and levels at the plant on the order of hundreds of micro-Sv. So if the units were nano-Sv per hour, the orders of magnitude are about right. Not sure what the total release given as "0.10E+19 Units" at the top would mean then. Anyway, why would someone make a technical-looking graph where everything is labeled in mysterious "units"?

FreshCode 16y ago

Looks like more irrational fear-mongering akin to http://stevebeckow.com/2011/03/nuclear-fallout-map-fraud/ http://stevebeckow.com/2011/03/nuclear-fallout-map-fraud/ Who is the original source?

JoachimSchipper 16y ago
Well, der Spiegel is a well-known German newspaper...

GHFigs 16y ago

No, what's scary is that there are people who think radiation is measured in cubic millimeters (m^-3). I'm not about to claim it's a well-made chart, but nobody should be drawing any conclusions from any chart without knowing what it's measuring (a plume) or what the units are (m^-3).

timrobinson 16y ago
"units m^-3" is another way of saying "units per m^3", i.e. radiation per cubic metre. For comparison, speed is "m s^-1" and acceleration is "m s^-2". Radiation per cubic millimetre would be "units mm^-3".

gus_massa 16y ago

I found the original article where this image appears. This is a simulation, not a measurement of the actual radiation. Original Article (German) http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,750835,00.html http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,750835,00.ht... Google Traslation: http://translate.google.com.ar/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Fwissenschaft%2Fnatur%2F0%2C1518%2C750835%2C00.html http://translate.google.com.ar/translate?js=n&prev=_t&#3... EDIT: More information The Original Original Article is from ZAMG. They have many updates and variations. I will link only two: The I-131 in the title means Iodine-131. They have the linked map and a wordwide map of the (simulated) distribution of C-137 (Caesium-137): http://translate.google.com.ar/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zamg.ac.at%2Faktuell%2Findex.php%3Fseite%3D1%26artikel%3DZAMG_2011-03-15GMT08%3A26 http://translate.google.com.ar/translate?js=n&prev=_t&#3... Simulation of the radioactive material distribution if they do a short-term release whith optimal winds and if they do a continual release with changin winds: http://translate.google.com.ar/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zamg.ac.at%2Faktuell%2Findex.php%3Fseite%3D1%26artikel%3DZAMG_2011-03-12GMT12%3A19 http://translate.google.com.ar/translate?js=n&prev=_t&#3...