Distribution of 137Cs in a Low Arctic Ecosystem in West Greenland

Strandberg, Morten Tune

doi:10.14430/arctic1103

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The lack of any discernable downward migration is consistent with previous assessments of the vertical distribution of 137 Cs in Arctic tundra (e.g. Taylor et al 1988;Baskaran et al 1991;Strandberg 1997 (UNSCEAR 2000) and displayed little variation with respect to sample location. Despite available information on the geology of the area (Hjelle 1993), the lack of information on permafrost depth at individual sampling sites prevents interpretation of how natural radionuclide activity concentrations in the soil refl ect those in the underlying lithology.…”

Section: Anthropogenic and Natural Radio Nuclides In Soilsupporting

confidence: 88%

The radiological environment of Svalbard

Gwynn¹,

Dowdall²,

Davids³

et al. 2004

Polar Research

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This paper presents a detailed survey of the radiological environment of the Svalbard area carried out from 2000 to 2002, in both the marine and terrestrial environment. In the marine environment in 2001, 99Tc activity concentrations in seawater were 0.13 to 0.36 Bq/m3, 5 fold higher than those in 1994, reflecting the increase in 99Tc discharges from Sellafield in the mid 1990s. Cs‐137 activity concentrations in seawater were 2.23 to 2.43 Bq/m3, ca. 10 fold lower than those in the 1980s, reflecting the reduction in discharge of this radionuclide. Pu‐238, 239+240Pu and 241Am activity concentrations in seawater were < 0.3 to 0.7 mBq/m3, 5.6 to 8.9 mBq/m3 and 0.6 to 2.4 mBq/m3 respectively, with activity ratios suggesting global fallout to be the dominant source. Tc‐99 activity concentrations in brown algae were up to 18 fold higher than those in the 1980s with highest concentrations in Fucus distichus (25.7 to 58.7 Bq/kg d.w.). In the terrestrial environment, typical 137Cs activity concentrations in soil were between < 0.5 and 63 Bq/kg d.w. whilst activity concentrations of the natural radionuclides 238U (17 to 72 Bq/kg d.w.), 226Ra (21 to 70 Bq/kg d.w.), 232Th (10 to 57 Bq/kg d.w.) and 40K (115 to 818 Bq/kg d.w.) were similar to global averages. In terrestrial vegetation, 137Cs activity concentrations varied from 29 to 292 Bq/kg d.w. in mosses, 30 to 140 Bq/kg d.w. in lichen and 19 to 109 Bq/kg d.w. in flowering plants. Elevated activity concentrations of 137Cs, 238U, 226Ra, Pu isotopes and 241Am were found in some matrices associated with seabird colonies.

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Section: Anthropogenic and Natural Radio Nuclides In Soilsupporting

confidence: 88%

The radiological environment of Svalbard

Gwynn¹,

Dowdall²,

Davids³

et al. 2004

Polar Research

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“…From the 134 Cs/ 137 Cs ratios, the Chernobyl contribution to 137 Cs was estimated to have been in the range of 10e20% for most Canadian caribou herds, with a few central herds indicating slightly higher contributions. The 20% input from Chernobyl agrees with the general estimate by Aarkrog et al (2000) for Greenland but is higher than the 5% reported for western Greenland (Strandberg, 1997) and Iceland (Pálsson et al, 1994). The value of 20% also corresponds to the range of 14% increase due to Chernobyl fallout in lichen at Igloolik, Nunavut, and 16% and 28% increase in moss and lichen, respectively, reported in Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta (Taylor et al, 1988).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

“…Because of persisting low level inputs of 137 Cs after the cessation of large scale atmospheric testing in 1963, the observed disappearance (or ecological) half time is closer to 8 y. Taylor et al (1985) reported an increase in T eff with increasing latitude for lichens, mosses and vascular plants in northern Canada. The mean T eff of all vegetation samples ranged from about 2 y at 50 N to about 8 y at 80 N. Longer effective half-lives at the higher latitudes were attributed to slower growth of lichens causing less dilution of the 137 Cs burden with new biomass and also less rapid turnover of the deciduous portions of vascular plants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Radiocesium in caribou and reindeer in northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland from 1958 to 2000

Macdonald¹,

Elkin²,

Tracy

2007

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

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“…Both values are about an order of magnitude lower than those for our Usnea lichens. Earlier, similar significant differences between lichens and high vascular plants in regard to the accumulation of radiocesium originating from nuclear explosions and the Chernobyl accident were reported by many researchers [51,52,53,54,55].…”

Section: T Ag For 134 Cs and 137 Cs In Lichenssupporting

confidence: 65%

Temporal variations of 7Be, 40K, 134Cs and 137Cs in epiphytic lichens (genus Usnea) at the Sakhalin and Kunashir islands after the Fukushima accident

Рамзаев¹,

Barkovsky²,

Громов³

et al. 2016

Radiac. gig. (2008)

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Temporal variations of radionuclide levels in the epiphytic Usnea sp. lichens from the two islands Sakhalin and Kunashir, the Sakhalin region, Russia have been evaluated using the already published (2011)(2012)(2013) and new experimental data (2015). A total of 62 lichen samples were measured using high purity germanium γ-ray detectors and multichannel analyzers. In the period 2011-2015, activity concentrations of the anthropogenic radionuclides 134 Cs and 137 Cs and the natural radionuclides 7 Be and 40 K were found to be in the range of (<0.53)-41. 3, 0.55-50.6, 99-603 and 35-95 Bq kg -1 on dry weight, respectively. The activity concentrations of 134 Cs and 137 Cs in lichens were statistically significantly higher at Kunashir than at Sakhalin. The present-day levels of radiocesium activity concentrations in lichens are low: < 6 Bq kg -1 for 137 Cs and <1 Bq kg -1 for 134 Cs. A decline in the annual median 137 Cs activity concentrations in lichens from 2011 to 2015 corresponds to a biological half-life of 1.2 y for Kunashir and 1.1 y for Sakhalin. The activity concentrations of 137 Cs and 134 Cs in lichens were strongly correlated (r=0.978, P<0.01) and the 134 Cs biological half-life value of 1.2 y in the period 2011-2013 was similar to the corresponding 137 Cs biological half-life value. The soil-tolichens aggregated transfer factor, T ag , for 134 Cs at time t=0 after the Fukushima accident is calculated as 0.56 m 2 kg -1 at Sakhalin and 0.31 m 2 kg -1 at Kunashir. In contrast to radiocesium, the natural radionuclides 7 Be and 40 K did not show clear time-dependent variations in the Usnea lichens. No correlation was found between 7 Be and 40 K as well as between 40 K and cesium radioisotopes. However, positive and statistically significant (P<0.05) correlations were obtained between 7 Be and cesium radioisotopes. High abundance of the Usnea sp. lichens in the study area and large values of T ag for radiocesium in the lichens make these organisms suitable candidates for detection of low levels of airborne radioactive contamination of the environment.

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Distribution of 137Cs in a Low Arctic Ecosystem in West Greenland

Cited by 11 publications

References 30 publications

The radiological environment of Svalbard

The radiological environment of Svalbard

Radiocesium in caribou and reindeer in northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland from 1958 to 2000

Temporal variations of 7Be, 40K, 134Cs and 137Cs in epiphytic lichens (genus Usnea) at the Sakhalin and Kunashir islands after the Fukushima accident

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