Skip to main content
Log in

Temporal variation of atmospheric 7Be and 210Pb concentrations and their activity size distributions at Astana, Kazakhstan in Central Asia

  • Published:
Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Atmospheric concentrations of 7Be and 210Pb obtained by a high-volume air sampler with a cascade impactor were measured from September 2016 to November 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The levels and seasonal variations of atmospheric 7Be and 210Pb concentrations were investigated together with their activity size distributions. Typical seasonal variability was observed with higher concentrations of 7Be occurring in the warm summer and that of 210Pb towards the cold winter. These trends may be attributed to the increased vertical mixing within the troposphere during the warm summer season and the frequent inversion conditions of the surface layers during the cold winter season.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Lal D, Peters B (1967) Cosmic-ray produced radioactivity on the earth. Handbuch Phys 46:551–612

    Google Scholar 

  2. Hötzl H, Rosner G, Winkler R (1991) Correlation of 7Be concentrations in surface air and precipitation with the solar cycle. Naturwissenschaften 78:215–217

    Google Scholar 

  3. Megumi K, Matsunaki T, Ito N, Kiyoda S, Mizohara A, Asano T (2000) Factors, especially sun-spot number, causing variations in surface air concentrations and depositions of 7Be in Osaka, Japan. Geophys Res Lett 27:361–364

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Olsen CR, Larsen IL, Lowry PD, Cutshall NH, Todd JF, Wong GTF, Gasey WH (1985) Atmospheric fluxes and marsh-soil inventories of 7Be and 210Pb. J Geophys Res 90:10487–10495

    Google Scholar 

  5. Todd JF, Wong GTF, Olsen CR, Larsen IL (1989) Atmospheric depositional characteristics of beryllium-7 and lead-210 along the southeastern Virginia coast. J Geophys Res 94:11106–11116

    Google Scholar 

  6. Reiter ER (1975) Stratospheric–Tropospheric exchange processes. Rev Geophys Space Phys 13(4):459–474

    Google Scholar 

  7. Dutkiewicz VA, Husain L (1985) Stratospheric and tropospheric components of 7Be in surface air. J Geophys Res 90:5783–5788

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Feely HW, Larson RJ, Sanderson C (1989) Factors that cause seasonal variations in 7Be concentrations in surface air. J Environ Radioact 9:223–249

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Kritz M, Rosner S, Danielsen E, Selkirk H (1991) Air mass origins and troposphere-to-stratosphere exchange associated with mid-latitude cyclogenesis and tropopause folding inferred from 7Be measurements. J Geophys Res Atmos 96:17405–17414

    Google Scholar 

  10. Jiwen L, Starovoitova VN, Wells DP (2013) Long-term variations in the surface air 7Be concentration and climatic changes. J Environ Radioact 116:42–47

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Hernández-Ceballos MA, Cinelli G, Marín Ferrer M, Tollefsen T, Felice LD, Nweke E, Tognoli PV, Vanzo S, Cort MD (2015) A climatology of 7Be in surface air in European Union. J Environ Radioact 141:62–70

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Rangarajan C (1992) A study of the mean residence time of the natural radioactive aerosols in the planetary boundary layer. J Environ Radioact 15:193–206

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Balkanski YJ, Jacon DJ, Gardner GM, Graustein WC, Turekian KK (1993) Transport and residence times of tropospheric aerosols inferred from a global three-dimensional simulation of 210Pb. J Geophys Res 98:20573–20586

    Google Scholar 

  14. Sato J, Doi T, Segawa T, Sugawara S (1994) Seasonal variation of atmospheric concentrations of 210Pb and 7Be at Tsukuba, Japan, with a possible observation of 210Pb originating from the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo volcano, Philippines. Geochem J 28:123–129

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Sato S, Doi T, Sato J (1999) A temporal increase in the atmospheric 210Pb concentration possibly due to the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo valcano. Radioisotopes 48(8):16–22

    Google Scholar 

  16. Sato S, Doi T, Sato J (2000) Atmospheric concentration of 210Pb at Beijing and Chengdu, the People’s Republic of China. Radioisotopes 49:439–446

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Turekian KK, Benninger LK, Dion EP (1983) 7Be and 210Pb total depositional fluxes at New Haven, Connecticut and Bermuda. J Geophys Res 88:5411–5415

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Turekian KK, Nozaki Y, Benninger LK (1977) Geochemistry of atmospheric radon and radon products. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 5:227–255

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Turekian KK, Cochran JK (1981) 210Pb in surface air at Enewetak and the Asian dust to the Pacific. Nature 292:522–524

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Tsunogai S, Shinagawa T, Kurata T (1985) Deposition of anthropogenic surface and 210Pb in the western North Pacific area. Geochem J 19:77–90

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Tokieda T, Yamanaka K, Harada K, Tsunogai S (1996) Seasonal variations of residence time and upper atmospheric contribution of aerosols studies with Pb-210, Bi-210, Po-210 and Be-7. Tellus 48:690–702

    Google Scholar 

  22. Baskaran M (2011) Po-210 and Pb-210 as atmospheric tracers and global atmospheric Pb-210 fallout: a review. J Environ Radioact 102:500–513

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Baskaran M, Coleman CH, Santschi PH (1993) Atmospheric deposition fluxes of 7Be and 210Pb at Galveston and College Station, Texas. J Geophys Res 98:20555–20571

    Google Scholar 

  24. Ishikawa Y, Murakami H, Sekine T, Yoshihara K (1995) Precipitation scavenging studies of radionuclides in air using cosmogenic 7Be. J Environ Radioact 26:19–36

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Winkler R, Rosner G (2000) Seasonal and long-term variation of 210Pb concentration in air, atmospheric deposition rate, and total deposition velocity in south Germany. Sci Total Environ 263:57–68

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Akata N, Kawabata H, Hasegawa H, Sato T, Chikuchi Y, Kondo K, Hisamatsu S, Inaba J (2008) Total deposition velocities and scavenging ratios of 7Be and 210Pb at Rokkasho, Japan. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 277(2):347–355

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Du J, Zhang J, Wu Y (2008) Deposition patterns of atmospheric 7Be and 210Pb in coast of East China, Shanghai, China. Atmos Environ 42:5101–5109

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Japan Meteorogical Agency. Data and graphs by point (World Weather Data Tool, ClimatView). In: http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html; The data are taken from http://www.data.jma.go.jp/gmd/cpd/monitor/climatview/graph_mkhtml.php?n=35188&y=2017&m=12&e=0&r=1&s=1&k=0. Accessed 29 June 2019 (in Japanese)

  29. Satake K, Kurisu M, Tanimoto H, Sakaguchi A, Uematsu M, Miyamoto C, Takahashi Y (2018) Custom-made PTFE filters for ultra-clean size-fractionated aerosol sampling for trace metals. Mar Chem 206:100–108

    Google Scholar 

  30. Kapala J, Karpińska M, Mnich S, Gromotowicz-Poplawska A, Kulesza G (2018) 7Be concentration in the near-surface layer of the air in Bialystok (northeastern Poland) in the years 1992–2010. J Environ Radioact 187:40–44

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Sýkora I, Holý K, Jeskovský M, Müllerova M, Bulko M, Povinec PP (2017) Long-term variations of radionuclides in the Bratislava air. J Environ Radioact 166:23–35

    Google Scholar 

  32. Winkler R, Dietl F, Frank G, Tschiersch J (1998) Temporal variation of 7Be and 210Pb size distributions in ambient aerosol. Atmos Environ 32(6):983–991

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Vecchi R, Valli G (1997) 7Be in surface air: a natural atmospheric racer. J Aerosol Sci 28(5):895–900

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Hernández-Ceballos MA, Brattich E, Lozano RL, Cinelli G (2016) 7Be behaviour and meteorological conditions associated with 7Be peak events in Spain. J Environ Radioact 166:17–26

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. San Miguel EG, Hernández-Ceballos MA, García-Mozo H, Bolívar JP (2019) Evidences of different meteorological patterns governing 7Be and 210Pb surface levels in the southern Iberian Peninsula. J Environ Radioact 198:1–10

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Dueñas C, Fernández MC, Carretero J, Liger E, Cañete S (2005) Deposition velocities and washout ratios on a coastal site (southeastern Spain) calculated from 7Be and 210Pb measurements. Atmos Environ 39:6897–6908

    Google Scholar 

  37. Ioannidou A, Manolopoulou M, Papastefanou C (2005) Temporal changes of 7Be and 210Pb concentrations in surface air at temperate latitudes (40° N). Appl Radiat Isot 63:277–284

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Saleh IH, Abdel-Halim AA (2017) 7Be in soil, deposited dust and atmospheric air and its using to infer soil erosion along Alexandria region, Egypt. J Environ Radioact 172:24–29

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Gai N, Pan J, Yin XC, Zhu XH, Yu HQ, Li Y, Tan KY, Jiao XC, Yang YL (2015) Latitudinal distributions of activities in atmospheric aerosols, deposition fluxes, and soil inventories of 7Be in the East Asian monsoon zone. J Environ Radioact 148:59–66

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Mohan MP, D’Souza RS, Nayak SR, Kamath SS, Shetty T, Kumara KS, Yashodhara I, Mayya YS, Karunakara N (2018) A study of temporal variations of 7Be and 210Pb concentrations and their correlations with rainfall and other parameters in the South West Coast of India. J Environ Radioact 192:194–207

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Hasegawa H, Akata N, Kawabata H, Chikuchi Y, Sato T, Kondo K, Inaba J (2007) Mechanism of 7Be scavenging from the atmosphere through precipitation in relation to seasonal variations in Rokkasho Village, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 273(1):171–175

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Matsunami T, Megumi K (1992) Depositions of 210Pb and 7Be in South Osaka, Environmental Radon. In: Proceedings of 91 radon symposium (Aug. 8–10, 1991, Kumatori), 195-206 (in Japanese with English abstract)

  43. Matsunami T, Megumi K (1994) Variation of 7Be concentrations in surface air and in deposition with the solar activity. Radioisotopes 43:334–340 (in Japanese)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Momoshima N, Nishio S, Kusano Y, Fukuda A, Ishimoto A (2006) Seasonal variations of atmospheric 210Pb and 7Be concentrations at Kumamoto, Japan and their removal from the atmosphere as wet and dry depositions. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 268:297–304

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. UNSCEAR (1982) Ionizing radiation: sources and biological effects. United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. United Nations, New York

    Google Scholar 

  46. UNSCEAR (2000) Sources and effects of ionizing radiation. United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. United Nations, New York

    Google Scholar 

  47. Kulan A, Aldahan A, Possnert G, Vintersved I (2006) Distribution of 7Be in surface air of Europe. Atmos Environ 40:3855–3868

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Lee LYL, Kwok RCW, Cheung YP, Yu KN (2004) Analyses of airborne 7Be concentrations in Hong Kong using back-trajectories. Atmos Environ 38:7033–7040

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Krajny E, Osrodka L, Wojtylak M (2014) Meteorological conditions for the variability of 7Be and 210Pb concentrations in surface layer air in Poland. J Environ Sci Eng Technol 2:14–25

    Google Scholar 

  50. Feichter J, Brost RA, Heimann M (1991) Three-dimensional modeling of the concentration and deposition of 210Pb aerosols. J Geophys Res 96(D12):22447–22460

    Google Scholar 

  51. Koch DM, Jacob DJ, Graustein WC (1996) Vertical transport of tropospheric aerosols as indicated by 7Be and 210Pb in a chemical tracer model. J Geophys Res 101(D13):18651–18666

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. Paatero J, Ioannidou A, Ikonen J, Lehto J (2017) Aerosol particle size distribution of atmospheric lead-210 in northern Finland. J Environ Radioact 172:10–14

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Sanak J, Gaudry A, Lambert G (1981) Size distribution of 210Pb aerosols over oceans. Geophys Res Lett 8:1067–1069

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  54. Camacho A, Valles I, Vargas A, Gonzales-Perosanz M, Ortega X (2009) Activity size distributions for long-lived radon decay products in aerosols collected in Barcelona (Spain). Appl Radiat Isot 67:872–875

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. K. Sakata for his useful advices on the samplings. We thank for Ms. M. Shimote for transferring the all filter samples to each laboratory, and we also thank for Ms. M. Nasu for the preparations of sampling filters. This research was supported by a Grant-in Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan (Numbers: 26257501 and 19H01149).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Sakaguchi.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sambayev, Y.K., Zhumalina, A.G., Zhumadilov, K.S. et al. Temporal variation of atmospheric 7Be and 210Pb concentrations and their activity size distributions at Astana, Kazakhstan in Central Asia. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 323, 663–674 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06968-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06968-x

Keywords

Navigation