Sampling of the water used for hand washing in airplane lavatories (in-flight water) had been conducted on passenger flights surrounding at Narita International Airport (NRT) in suburbs of Tokyo, Japan since July 2009. It had been observed that  the variation delta15/14 between-3.8 and 0 [per mil] for stable nitrogen isotope ratios in the nitrate ion in the in-flight water when airplane was taking off or landing until before strong earthquake with magnitude nine on March 11,2011 in offshore East Japan. However after the right before the earthquake this tendency had been changed and it had been observed variation delta15/14 between +0.986 and +8.26 [per mil] for stable nitrogen isotope ratios in the nitrate ion in the in-flight water when airplane was taking off.It is known that the values of delta15/14 N for sediments and metamorphic rock are higher than atmosphere. Hence the right before the earthquake 15N might  have supplied to atmosphere surrounding at NRT from sediments and metamorphic rock.

Effect of strong earthquake with magnitude nine on March 11, 2011 in offshore East Japan to variation in stable isotope ratios of in-flight water

243rd National Meeting (2012)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.