Recent evolution of 129 I levels in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean
Most of the anthropogenic radionuclide 129I released to the marine environment from the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants (NFRP) at Sellafield (England) and La Hague (France) is transported to the Arctic Ocean via the North Atlantic Current and the Norwegian Coastal Current. 129I concentrations in se...
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:418984 2023-07-30T04:01:38+02:00 Recent evolution of 129 I levels in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean Vivo-Vilches, Carlos López-Gutiérrez, José María Periáñez, Raúl Marcinko, Charlotte Le Moigne, Frédéric Mcginnity, Paul Peruchena, Juan Ignacio Villa-Alfageme, María 2018-04-01 https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/418984/ English eng Vivo-Vilches, Carlos, López-Gutiérrez, José María, Periáñez, Raúl, Marcinko, Charlotte, Le Moigne, Frédéric, Mcginnity, Paul, Peruchena, Juan Ignacio and Villa-Alfageme, María (2018) Recent evolution of 129 I levels in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean. Science of the Total Environment, 621, 376-386. (doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.268 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.268>). Article PeerReviewed 2018 ftsouthampton https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.268 2023-07-09T22:21:22Z Most of the anthropogenic radionuclide 129I released to the marine environment from the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants (NFRP) at Sellafield (England) and La Hague (France) is transported to the Arctic Ocean via the North Atlantic Current and the Norwegian Coastal Current. 129I concentrations in seawater provides a powerful and well-established radiotracer technique to provide information about the mechanisms which govern water mass transport in the Nordic Seas and the Arctic Ocean and is gaining importance when coupled with other tracers (e.g. CFC, 236U). In this work, 129I concentrations in surface and depth profiles from the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic (NA) Ocean collected from four different cruises between 2011 and 2012 are presented. This work allowed us to i) update information on 129I concentrations in these areas, required for the accurate use of 129I as a tracer of water masses; and ii) investigate the formation of deep water currents in the eastern part of the Nordic Seas, by the analysis of 129I concentrations and temperature-salinity (T-S) diagrams from locations within the Greenland Sea Gyre. In the Nordic Seas, 129I concentrations in seawater are of the order of 109 at·kg− 1, one or two orders of magnitude higher than those measured at the NA Ocean, not so importantly affected by the releases from the NFRP. 129I concentrations of the order of 108 atoms·kg− 1 at the Ellet Line and the PAP suggest a direct contribution from the NFRP in the NA Ocean. An increase in the concentrations in the Nordic Seas between 2002 and 2012 has been detected, which agrees with the temporal evolution of the 129I liquid discharges from the NFRPs in years prior to this. Finally, 129I profile concentrations, 129I inventories and T-S diagrams suggest that deep water formation occurred in the easternmost area of the Nordic Seas during 2012 Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Greenland Sea Nordic Seas north atlantic current North Atlantic University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Science of The Total Environment 621 376 386 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
op_collection_id |
ftsouthampton |
language |
English |
description |
Most of the anthropogenic radionuclide 129I released to the marine environment from the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants (NFRP) at Sellafield (England) and La Hague (France) is transported to the Arctic Ocean via the North Atlantic Current and the Norwegian Coastal Current. 129I concentrations in seawater provides a powerful and well-established radiotracer technique to provide information about the mechanisms which govern water mass transport in the Nordic Seas and the Arctic Ocean and is gaining importance when coupled with other tracers (e.g. CFC, 236U). In this work, 129I concentrations in surface and depth profiles from the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic (NA) Ocean collected from four different cruises between 2011 and 2012 are presented. This work allowed us to i) update information on 129I concentrations in these areas, required for the accurate use of 129I as a tracer of water masses; and ii) investigate the formation of deep water currents in the eastern part of the Nordic Seas, by the analysis of 129I concentrations and temperature-salinity (T-S) diagrams from locations within the Greenland Sea Gyre. In the Nordic Seas, 129I concentrations in seawater are of the order of 109 at·kg− 1, one or two orders of magnitude higher than those measured at the NA Ocean, not so importantly affected by the releases from the NFRP. 129I concentrations of the order of 108 atoms·kg− 1 at the Ellet Line and the PAP suggest a direct contribution from the NFRP in the NA Ocean. An increase in the concentrations in the Nordic Seas between 2002 and 2012 has been detected, which agrees with the temporal evolution of the 129I liquid discharges from the NFRPs in years prior to this. Finally, 129I profile concentrations, 129I inventories and T-S diagrams suggest that deep water formation occurred in the easternmost area of the Nordic Seas during 2012 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vivo-Vilches, Carlos López-Gutiérrez, José María Periáñez, Raúl Marcinko, Charlotte Le Moigne, Frédéric Mcginnity, Paul Peruchena, Juan Ignacio Villa-Alfageme, María |
spellingShingle |
Vivo-Vilches, Carlos López-Gutiérrez, José María Periáñez, Raúl Marcinko, Charlotte Le Moigne, Frédéric Mcginnity, Paul Peruchena, Juan Ignacio Villa-Alfageme, María Recent evolution of 129 I levels in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean |
author_facet |
Vivo-Vilches, Carlos López-Gutiérrez, José María Periáñez, Raúl Marcinko, Charlotte Le Moigne, Frédéric Mcginnity, Paul Peruchena, Juan Ignacio Villa-Alfageme, María |
author_sort |
Vivo-Vilches, Carlos |
title |
Recent evolution of 129 I levels in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean |
title_short |
Recent evolution of 129 I levels in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean |
title_full |
Recent evolution of 129 I levels in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Recent evolution of 129 I levels in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Recent evolution of 129 I levels in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean |
title_sort |
recent evolution of 129 i levels in the nordic seas and the north atlantic ocean |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/418984/ |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Greenland Sea Nordic Seas north atlantic current North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland Greenland Sea Nordic Seas north atlantic current North Atlantic |
op_relation |
Vivo-Vilches, Carlos, López-Gutiérrez, José María, Periáñez, Raúl, Marcinko, Charlotte, Le Moigne, Frédéric, Mcginnity, Paul, Peruchena, Juan Ignacio and Villa-Alfageme, María (2018) Recent evolution of 129 I levels in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean. Science of the Total Environment, 621, 376-386. (doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.268 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.268>). |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.268 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
621 |
container_start_page |
376 |
op_container_end_page |
386 |
_version_ |
1772812409559318528 |