High Resolution Observations of 137Cs in Northern Britain and Ireland from Airborne Radiometric Data

Abstract

SUMMARYThis study presents high-resolution airborne geophysical estimates of the distribution of 137Cs across three areas of northern Britain and Ireland. The radiometric spectra were acquired as part of a program of modern resource and environmental surveying. The largest survey area considered covers the whole of Northern Ireland. All three data sets display some clustering on high ground together with regional scale banding features. The two main banding directions are approximately NNW-SSE and NW-SE. Our interpretation of the regional scale features is in relation to existing knowledge of the wet deposition model of the Chernobyl release of 1986. The airborne estimates, obtained at 200 m flight line intervals, add significant detail in relation to the meteorological and atmospheric interactions involved in the fallout from the Chernobyl plume over Western Europe.