I thought the sea star 'melting' was a problem related to acidification?

[bhikkhu]

69. Oceanic background radiation levels were about 1 to 3 bq/cubic meter

looking at cesium 137. That's from the link http://deepseanews.com/2013/11/true-facts-about-ocean-radiation-and-the-fukushima-disaster/ I posted the other day under "There is a good explanation of the radiation levels here:".

The levels are supposed to go up to 20 bq/m3 in the Pacific, according to the info on the link. Cesium is radioactive, whic means it decays into other things. Its half-life is about 30 years, so it will take awhile, but not a huge long while, for it to go back to normal.

Putting that radiation into perspective, I'll post again the same graph: http://xkcd.com/radiation/

A bequerel is a unit of measure estimating the rate of decay per volume, but a sievert is usually used as a measure of estimated "received" radiation to an object or person - the effect of that radiation. So the second graphic there uses sieverts.

Every day we receive about 10 uSv. A chest X-ray gives you about 20 uSv. A plane trip from New York to LA gives you about 40 uSv. The total radiation measured at Fukushima Town Hall for the two weeks following the incident was 100 uSv, or a little less than double the normal background levels, but also less than 1/4 of the radiation received in a mammogram.

Swimming in the ocean off of Fukushima, where the cesium contamination is most concentrated, exposed you to an additional .03% of radiation (looking at sieverts) above the normal background levels. That's slightly less dangerous than eating a banana (potassium had naturally radioactive isotopes).