A CASE STUDY OF RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT. Technical Paper No. 42

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1963

OSTI ID:4083950

Reiter, E R

During September 1961 a series of balloon ascents made from Flin Flon, Canada, carrying scintillation counters sensitive to gamma radiation, revealed the existence of shallow stable atmospheric layers carrying radioactive debris, presumably from the Russian test series during the same month. The debris layers encountered on September 14 and 15 have been studied in particular. The debris detected over Flin Flon on September 14, 2221 GCT, at 650 mb had undergone strong sinking motion. One may conclude that it came out of the stratosphere shortly prior to September 13, 12 GCT, entering the troposphere through the stable layer underneath the jet core, sometimes referred to as jet-stream front. Beginning with September 17 a distinct area of radioactive fallout began to appear at the surface over the eastern United States. Some of this debris seemed to be identical with the one detected over Flin Flon, and it apparently was transported by the same jet stream. Part of the fallout is associated with a small collapsing cold dome travelling ahead of this jet stream. (auth)

• Research Organization: Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins
• NSA Number: NSA-18-010273
• OSTI ID: 4083950
• Report Number(s): AD-403276
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

AIRCRAFT
ATMOSPHERE
BALLOONS
CLOUDS
FALLOUT
GAMMA RADIATION
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
RADIOACTIVITY
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
STRATOSPHERE