Seasonal anomalies in radioactivity of the near-surface atmosphere in the Chernobyl-affected area of Belarus
Dvornik, Aliaksandr LU
and Bakarikova, Zhanna
(2022)
In Environmental Science and Pollution Research
29(51).
p.77553-77564
- Abstract
Increased radioactivity in the near-surface atmosphere is virtually an annual occurrence in the Gomel region, Belarus. However, there is no explicit evidence as to what causes these anomalies and whether their origin has a strong seasonal association. To establish any such relations, we have analysed long-term radiation monitoring data recorded in the region over the past 17 years from 2003 to 2020 to find that abnormal levels of atmospheric radioactivity in summer and in winter have different origins. Summer spikes are most likely caused by occasional wildfires blazing in contaminated afforested areas in extreme heat weather, such as the wildfires of 2015 and 2020 in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, which is confirmed by backward and... (More)
Increased radioactivity in the near-surface atmosphere is virtually an annual occurrence in the Gomel region, Belarus. However, there is no explicit evidence as to what causes these anomalies and whether their origin has a strong seasonal association. To establish any such relations, we have analysed long-term radiation monitoring data recorded in the region over the past 17 years from 2003 to 2020 to find that abnormal levels of atmospheric radioactivity in summer and in winter have different origins. Summer spikes are most likely caused by occasional wildfires blazing in contaminated afforested areas in extreme heat weather, such as the wildfires of 2015 and 2020 in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, which is confirmed by backward and forward trajectories of the air mass transport at the time calculated using the HYSPLIT model. By contrast, in winter, when a wildfire cannot occur, a potential source of atmospheric radioactivity in the Gomel region may be the use of wood fuel from contaminated territories in residential woodstoves. Measurements of wood ash sampled from local households across the contaminated area and close to the woods show excessively high concentrations of 137Cs and 90Sr. The Holt-Winters and the Facebook's Prophet models used for the purposes of this study prove their applicability for performing a short-term (5 years) prediction of the weekly index dynamics of the atmospheric radioactivity.
(Less)
- author
- Dvornik, Aliaksandr
LU
and Bakarikova, Zhanna
- publishing date
- 2022-11
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Humans, Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, Radioactivity, Seasons, Republic of Belarus, Atmosphere
- in
- Environmental Science and Pollution Research
- volume
- 29
- issue
- 51
- pages
- 77553 - 77564
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:35676579
- scopus:85131519211
- ISSN
- 1614-7499
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11356-022-21239-1
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- © 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
- id
- 1c0a831c-9d85-4332-8b09-99b375ab4b63
- date added to LUP
- 2025-01-30 09:56:15
- date last changed
- 2025-06-06 13:52:06
@article{1c0a831c-9d85-4332-8b09-99b375ab4b63,
abstract = {{<p>Increased radioactivity in the near-surface atmosphere is virtually an annual occurrence in the Gomel region, Belarus. However, there is no explicit evidence as to what causes these anomalies and whether their origin has a strong seasonal association. To establish any such relations, we have analysed long-term radiation monitoring data recorded in the region over the past 17 years from 2003 to 2020 to find that abnormal levels of atmospheric radioactivity in summer and in winter have different origins. Summer spikes are most likely caused by occasional wildfires blazing in contaminated afforested areas in extreme heat weather, such as the wildfires of 2015 and 2020 in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, which is confirmed by backward and forward trajectories of the air mass transport at the time calculated using the HYSPLIT model. By contrast, in winter, when a wildfire cannot occur, a potential source of atmospheric radioactivity in the Gomel region may be the use of wood fuel from contaminated territories in residential woodstoves. Measurements of wood ash sampled from local households across the contaminated area and close to the woods show excessively high concentrations of 137Cs and 90Sr. The Holt-Winters and the Facebook's Prophet models used for the purposes of this study prove their applicability for performing a short-term (5 years) prediction of the weekly index dynamics of the atmospheric radioactivity.</p>}},
author = {{Dvornik, Aliaksandr and Bakarikova, Zhanna}},
issn = {{1614-7499}},
keywords = {{Humans; Chernobyl Nuclear Accident; Radioactivity; Seasons; Republic of Belarus; Atmosphere}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{51}},
pages = {{77553--77564}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Environmental Science and Pollution Research}},
title = {{Seasonal anomalies in radioactivity of the near-surface atmosphere in the Chernobyl-affected area of Belarus}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21239-1}},
doi = {{10.1007/s11356-022-21239-1}},
volume = {{29}},
year = {{2022}},
}