MEASUREMENTS OF THE AIR CONCENTRATION OF GROSS FISSION PRODUCT RADIOACTIVITY DURING THE IGY JULY 1957-DECEMBER 1958

Technical Report · Fri Jun 12 04:00:00 EDT 1959

OSTI ID:4225840

Lockhart, Jr, L B; Patterson, Jr, R L; Anderson, W L

Measurements of the gross fission product radioactivity in the air at 21 sites along the 80th meridian and 4 sites in the North Pacific area are reported for the period July 1957 to December 1958. The activity levels at the various sites are related both to the stratospheric deposition of nuclear debris and to the direct introduction of radioactive material into the troposphere upwind of the collecting cites. The fission product radioactivity of the air of the Northern Hemisphere increased markedly co the result of the extension series of techs carried out during this period. Fission products, however, still contribute only a small fraction of the total radioactivity of the ground-level air. Radioactive debris injected into the troposphere at any particular site spreads rather rapidly throughout the same hemisphere but rarely crosses the equator in any quantity. An exception of this occurred during the Hardtack series in the Pacific when massive quantities of activity were transported to ihe Southern Hemisphere by winds in the upper troposphere. It is again shown that periods of heavy rainfall such as occur during the rainy season in Panama, cause a general decrease in the concentration of fission products in the air. (auth)

• Research Organization: Naval Research Lab., Washington, D.C.
• NSA Number: NSA-14-000022
• OSTI ID: 4225840
• Report Number(s): NRL-5359
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

AIR
ATMOSPHERE
BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
DEPOSITS
ENERGY LEVELS
ENVIRONMENT
EQUATOR
FALLOUT
FISSION PRODUCTS
MEASURED VALUES
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
PANAMA
PROJECT HARDTACK
QUANTITY RATIO
RADIOACTIVITY
RADIOISOTOPES
RAIN
STRATOSPHERE
TESTING
VARIATIONS
WIND