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Autonomous long-term gamma-spectrometric monitoring of submarine groundwater discharge trends in Hawaii

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Abstract

We developed a fully autonomous underwater gamma-spectrometer for long-term coastal submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) monitoring. The instrument represents a significant improvement over previous submarine gamma-spectrometers in that it is very robust, has high sensitivity allowing high temporal resolution, and is completely autonomous. Here we describe the technical parameters of the new instrument as well as data collected over its 9-month deployment in Kiholo Bay, HI, USA. We also present methods to convert the measured activities to SGD rates. In Kiholo Bay, the derived SGD matched previous estimates but in addition it revealed previously undocumented short- and long-term patterns in SGD.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Hui Aloha Kiholo for their support. This publication was made possible in part by support from the Hawai‘i EPSCoR Program under National Science Foundation award number EPS-0903833. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NSF. We thank for the contribution of EPSCoR participants Craig Glenn, Joe Fackrell, and Samuel Wall. The paper was also funded in part by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Project #R/IR-19, which is sponsored by the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program, SOEST, under Institutional Grant No. NA09OAR4170060 from NOAA Office of Sea Grant, Department of Commerce. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its sub-agencies. UNIHI-SEAGRANT-JC-13-15.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, School of Ocean, Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, 1680 East–West Rd, POST 707, Honolulu, HI, 968 22, USA

    Henrietta Dulai, Jan Kamenik, Christine A. Waters & Joseph Kennedy

  2. Nuclear Physics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rez, Czech Republic

    Jan Kamenik

  3. School of Ocean, Earth Science and Technology, Engineering Support Facility, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA

    James Babinec, James Jolly & Mario Williamson

Authors
  1. Henrietta Dulai
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  2. Jan Kamenik
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  3. Christine A. Waters
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  4. Joseph Kennedy
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  5. James Babinec
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  6. James Jolly
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  7. Mario Williamson
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Correspondence to Henrietta Dulai.

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Dulai, H., Kamenik, J., Waters, C.A. et al. Autonomous long-term gamma-spectrometric monitoring of submarine groundwater discharge trends in Hawaii. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 307, 1865–1870 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4580-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4580-9

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