Long-range transport of continental radon in subantarctic and antarctic areas - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Tellus B - Chemical and Physical Meteorology Année : 1986

Long-range transport of continental radon in subantarctic and antarctic areas

Résumé

Gaseous Rn-222, a daughter product of U-238, is injected into the atmosphere from the surface of continents. Its atmospheric cycle is particularly simple since it disappears only by radioactive decay (half-life 3.8 days). Radon measurements obtained over more than 15 years in remote stations in Antarctic and Subantarctic areas generally give concentrations as low as 0. I to 2 pCi.m-'. However, we have shown the existence of sharp increases of concentrations reaching 3 to 30 pCi'rn-' called "radonic storms". Owing to the negligible degassing of radon from the sea surface, such peaks are accounted for by long-range transport from remote continents (mainly South Africa) over Southern Indian and Antarctic oceans, with transit times ranging from 1.5 to 7 days and very low dilution factors of the order of 3 to 7. This airmass transport is related to warm sectors of cyclonic systems passing over South Africa and around the Antarctic continent.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Long range transport of continental radon in subantarctic and antarctic areas.pdf (979.8 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte

Dates et versions

hal-03541045 , version 1 (24-01-2022)

Identifiants

Citer

Georges Polian, Gerard Lambert, Benedicte Ardouin, Alain Jegou. Long-range transport of continental radon in subantarctic and antarctic areas. Tellus B - Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 1986, 38 (3-4), pp.178-189. ⟨10.3402/tellusb.v38i3-4.15126⟩. ⟨hal-03541045⟩

Collections

CEA CNRS
18 Consultations
30 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More