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

J M Gómez-Guzmán; P Cámara-Mor; T Suzuki; J M López-Gutiérrez; J L Mas; P Masqué; S B Moran; J N Smith

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.10.004

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

Mar Pollut Bull. 2014 Dec 15;89(1-2):180-190. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.10.004. Epub 2014 Oct 23.

Authors

J M Gómez-Guzmán¹, P Cámara-Mor², T Suzuki³, J M López-Gutiérrez⁴, J L Mas⁵, P Masqué⁶, S B Moran⁷, J N Smith⁸

Affiliations

¹ Centro Nacional de Aceleradores (CNA), Avda. Thomas alba Edison 7, Isla de la Cartuja, 41092 Sevilla, Spain. Electronic address: jm_gomez@us.es.
² Departament de Física & Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
³ Reserch Group for Environmental Science, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 2-4 Shirakata-shirane, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan.
⁴ Centro Nacional de Aceleradores (CNA), Avda. Thomas alba Edison 7, Isla de la Cartuja, 41092 Sevilla, Spain; Dpto. de Física Aplicada I, Escuela Universitaria Politécnica, University of Sevilla, Spain.
⁵ Dpto. de Física Aplicada I, Escuela Universitaria Politécnica, University of Sevilla, Spain.
⁶ Departament de Física & Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain; Oceans Institute & School of Physics, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; School of Natural Sciences & Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, Australia.
⁷ Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882-1197, USA.
⁸ Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, NS B2Y 4A2, Canada.

PMID: 25457809
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.10.004

Abstract

Measurements of (129)I carried out on sea ice samples collected in the central Arctic Ocean in 2007 revealed relatively high levels in the range of 100-1400×10(7) at L(-1) that are comparable to levels measured in the surface mixed layer of the ocean at the same time. The (129)I/(127)I ratio in sea ice is much greater than that in the underlying water, indicating that the (129)I 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 (129)I 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.

Keywords: AMS; Arctic Ocean; Atmospheric deposition; Iodine-129; Reprocessing; Sea ice.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants / analysis*
Arctic Regions
Atmosphere
Ice Cover*
Iodine Radioisotopes / analysis*
Oceans and Seas
Seawater

Substances

Air Pollutants
Iodine Radioisotopes