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Mohan, M.P.; D'Souza, Renita Shiny; Rashmi Nayak, S.; Kamath, Srinivas S.; Shetty, Trilochana; Sudeep Kumara, K.; Yashodhara, I.; Mayya, Y.S.; Karunakara, N., E-mail: drkarunakara@gmail.com2018
AbstractAbstract
[en] Highlights: • Regional database on activity of atmospheric 7Be and 210Pb in Southwest Coast of India was established. • Rainfall is the major removal pathway for the 7Be and 210Pb from the atmosphere. • Dependence of solar activity with cosmogenic 7Be was studied. • A clear dependence of 7Be activity on solar activities was observed. • Causal factors for the temporal variability of 7Be and 210Pb concentrations were identified. -- Abstract: As a part of establishing a regional database on natural radioactivity, the atmospheric concentrations of 210Pb and 7Be were measured over a three and half year period (2014–2017) in Mangalore and Kaiga in the South West Coast of India. A total of 99 air samples, collected in the different months of the year, were analysed in this study. The mean activity concentrations of 7Be and 210Pb were found to be 5.5 ± 3.1 mBq m−3 and 1.1 ± 0.73 mBq m−3, respectively. Both the radionuclides exhibited strong seasonal variations, with maximum concentration of 7Be occurring in the summer and that of 210Pb in the winter season. The concentration of both the radionuclides was minimum in the rainy season. Higher 210Pb concentration during winter was attributed to the ingression of continental air masses due to the wind regime from the North East. The sunspot number index of the solar activity also plays an important role in the increase and decrease of 7Be concentration in the air. A clear trend of increased and lowered concentration of 7Be with lower and higher solar activity (low and high sunspot number), respectively, in accordance with the 11-year solar cycle, was observed in this study. The temporal variation of PM10 concentration was also studied and it showed maximum value in the winter and minimum in the rainy season with an average of 56.9 μg m−3. Statistically significant positive correlation was observed between the PM10 and 210Pb activity concentration, whereas a weak correlation was observed between PM10 and 7Be. This is due to the fact that 7Be is largely associated with sub-micrometer size particles, whereas PM10 is contributed by larger sizes. The dependence of the activity concentrations of 7Be and 210Pb with meteorological parameters such as rainfall, temperature, and humidity was studied through linear regression analysis. A significant correlation was observed between 7Be and 210Pb concentrations with rainfall intensity (with identical correlation coefficients), which suggested that the removal mechanisms of these two radionuclides were similar. 7Be showed a strong correlation with temperature, whereas 210Pb with humidity. A comparison of the data obtained in the present study for the South West Coast of India with the global literature values of 7Be and 210Pb in aerosols showed that the values did not reflect the well-known latitudinal dependence of the 7Be tropospheric fluxes. Overall, the study provides an improved understanding of the correlation and variability of 210Pb and 7Be concentrations in the atmosphere in the South West Coast of India.
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Source
S0265931X18300122; Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2018.06.018; © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
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Journal Article
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ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES, ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES, ASIA, BERYLLIUM ISOTOPES, BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES, BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES, DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, DIMENSIONLESS NUMBERS, ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION, ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES, EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI, EVEN-ODD NUCLEI, HEAVY NUCLEI, ISOTOPES, LEAD ISOTOPES, LIGHT NUCLEI, MATHEMATICS, NUCLEI, RADIOACTIVITY, RADIOISOTOPES, STATISTICS, VARIATIONS, YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
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