New insights on the role of sea ice in intercepting atmospheric pollutants using 129I

• Published in: Marine Pollution Bulletin
• Main Authors: Gómez-Guzmán, J M, Cámara-Mor, P, Suzuki, T, López-Gutiérrez, J M, Mas, J L, Masqué, P, Moran, S B, Smith, J N
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia 2014
• Subjects: AMS; Arctic Ocean; Atmospheric deposition; Iodine-129; Reprocessing; Sea ice; Atmospheric movements; Iodine; Meteorological problems; Scrap metal reprocessing; Atmospheric depositions; Atmospheric pollutants; Atmospheric transport; Back trajectories; Surface mixed layers; Nuclear fuel reprocessing; iodine 129; accelerator mass spectrometry; atmospheric pollution; trajectory; volatilization; air pollutant; air pollution; Arctic; Article; concentration (parameters); oceanic regions; pollution transport; sea surface waters; Basse Normandie; Cumbria; England; France; La Hague; Manche; Sellafield; United Kingdom; Marine Biology
• Online Access: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworkspost2013/147; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.10.004

Measurements of 129I carried out on sea ice samples collected in the central Arctic Ocean in 2007 revealed relatively high levels in the range of 100-1400×107 at L-1 that are comparable to levels measured in the surface mixed layer of the ocean at the same time. The 129I/127I ratio in sea ice is much greater than that in the underlying water, indicating that the 129I inventory in sea ice cannot be supported by direct uptake from seawater or by iodine volatilization from proximal (nearby) oceanic regimes. Instead, it is proposed that most of the 129I inventory in the sea ice is derived from direct atmospheric transport from European nuclear fuel reprocessing plants at Sellafield and Cap La Hague. This hypothesis is supported by back trajectory simulations indicating that volume elements of air originating in the Sellafield/La Hague regions would have been present at arctic sampling stations coincident with sampling collection.