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Applications of Radium Isotopes to Ocean Studies

Abstract

With half-lives ranging from 3.7 days to 1600 a, naturally occurring radium isotopes have been used to study a variety of processes in the ocean. New techniques, which allow rapid analyses of the short lived isotopes, {sup 224}Ra (half-life = 3.7 days) and {sup 223}Ra (half-life = 11 days), have lead to many novel ways to apply radium to oceanography. This paper will focus on how the use of these isotopes has led to breakthroughs in quantifying: (1) the residence time of water in estuaries, (2) coastal ocean mixing rates and (3) submarine groundwater discharge (SGD). With this new understanding of rates and fluxes in the near shore environment, scientists and coastal managers are now able to evaluate sources of nutrients, carbon, and metals and their impact on the coastal ocean. For example, it is now known that SGD rivals rivers as a nutrient source to many coastal environments. (author)
Authors:
Moore, W. S. [1] 
  1. Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (United States)
Publication Date:
Jul 15, 2013
Product Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: International Symposium on Isotopes in Hydrology, Marine Ecosystems and Climate Change Studies, Monaco (Monaco), 27 Mar - 1 Apr 2011; Other Information: Invited paper; 6 figs., 30 refs.; Related Information: In: Isotopes in Hydrology, Marine Ecosystems and Climate Change Studies, Vol. 2. Proceedings of the International Symposium| 655 p.
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES; CARBON; ESTUARIES; GROUND WATER; HALF-LIFE; OCEANOGRAPHY; RADIUM 223; RADIUM 224; RIVERS; SEAS; SHORES; SUBMARINES
OSTI ID:
22123120
Research Organizations:
International Atomic Energy Agency, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, Vienna (Austria)
Country of Origin:
IAEA
Language:
English
Other Identifying Numbers:
Other: ISSN 0074-1884; ISBN 978-92-0-135610-9; TRN: XA13R0927078922
Availability:
Also available on-line: http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/SupplementaryMaterials/Pub1580_vol2_web.pdf; Enquiries should be addressed to IAEA, Marketing and Sales Unit, Publishing Section, E-mail: sales.publications@iaea.org; Web site: http://www.iaea.org/books
Submitting Site:
INIS
Size:
page(s) 453-466
Announcement Date:
Aug 30, 2013

Citation Formats

Moore, W. S. Applications of Radium Isotopes to Ocean Studies. IAEA: N. p., 2013. Web.
Moore, W. S. Applications of Radium Isotopes to Ocean Studies. IAEA.
Moore, W. S. 2013. "Applications of Radium Isotopes to Ocean Studies." IAEA.
@misc{etde_22123120,
title = {Applications of Radium Isotopes to Ocean Studies}
author = {Moore, W. S.}
abstractNote = {With half-lives ranging from 3.7 days to 1600 a, naturally occurring radium isotopes have been used to study a variety of processes in the ocean. New techniques, which allow rapid analyses of the short lived isotopes, {sup 224}Ra (half-life = 3.7 days) and {sup 223}Ra (half-life = 11 days), have lead to many novel ways to apply radium to oceanography. This paper will focus on how the use of these isotopes has led to breakthroughs in quantifying: (1) the residence time of water in estuaries, (2) coastal ocean mixing rates and (3) submarine groundwater discharge (SGD). With this new understanding of rates and fluxes in the near shore environment, scientists and coastal managers are now able to evaluate sources of nutrients, carbon, and metals and their impact on the coastal ocean. For example, it is now known that SGD rivals rivers as a nutrient source to many coastal environments. (author)}
place = {IAEA}
year = {2013}
month = {Jul}
}