Global transport rates and future prediction of hazardous materials: Pu and Cs – from Nagasaki to Canadian Arctic

2000 ◽  
Vol 42 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 163-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Kudo ◽  
J. Zheng ◽  
R. Yamada ◽  
G. Tao ◽  
T. Sasaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Atomic Bomb ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Hazardous Materials ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Global Transport ◽  
Analytical Technology

A historical man-made global pollution of hazardous materials occurred at Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945 detonation of a plutonium (10–15 kg) atomic bomb. Recent advancements in analytical technology made it possible for artificial radionuclides released from the nuclear explosion to be detected in the Arctic ice core layer of 1945. The fission product, 137Cs (23.4 g or 7.44×1013 Bq), and unexpended fission material, 239+240Pu (8.8–13.8 kg or 2.22–3.49×1013 Bq), originating from the Nagasaki A-bomb were measured by collecting 10 ice cores on the Agassiz ice cap, Ellesmere Island, Canada. The deposition rates were 20 mBq/cm2 for 137Cs and 0.16 mBq/cm2 for 239+240Pu, originating from Nagasaki. Assuming the radionuclides, excluding the amount deposited as local fallout, are deposited evenly throughout the northern hemisphere, a rate of 67% of the expected amount of 137Cs arrived at the Arctic while 1.1% of 239+240Pu reached the Arctic. The results suggest that different transport mechanisms exist for these two hazardous contaminants in the global transport system. A non-reactive rare gas, such as neon and argon, can spread evenly throughout northern hemisphere, including Ellesmere island at the Canadian Arctic, while a reactive gas, sulfur dioxide (SO2) will not reach the ice cap. The measured global transport rates of 137Cs and 239+240Pu were 67% and 1.1%, respectively. These measured rates were for the historical man-made hazardous materials and probably obtained for the longest distance of global transport over 10,000 km. Assuming there was a consistency in climate for the next 10,000 years, the chronological anthropogenic deposits, mainly of 239+240Pu, could be detected in the ice layer between 97–98 m from the snow surface at 11,999 AD on the Agassiz ice cap. Even if there were no improvements in the radioactive analytical method used, the ice layers for the 1945–1980 period could still be easily identified with the present analytical technology. Hopefully this study will find a way to use our generation's artefacts for the benefit of our future descendants.

scholarly journals Natural and anthropogenic levels of tritium in a Canadian Arctic ice core, Agassiz Ice Cap, Ellesmere Island, and comparison with other radionuclides

2000 ◽  
Vol 46 (152) ◽  
pp. 35-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas G. Kotzer ◽  
Akira Kudo ◽  
James Zheng ◽  
Wayne Workman
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Fission Products ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Anthropogenic Radionuclides ◽  
Ice Caps ◽  
Nuclear Bomb ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Nuclear Weapons Testing ◽  
Arctic Ice

AbstractNumerous studies of the ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica have observed accumulations of transuranic radionuclides and fission products from nuclear weapons testing, particularly during the period 1945–75. Recently, the concentrations of radionuclides in the annually deposited surface layers of Agassiz Ice Cap, Ellesmere Island, Canadian Arctic, from 1945 to the present have been measured and have demonstrated a continuous record of deposition of 137Cs and 239,240Pu in ice and snow. In this study, 3He-ingrowth mass spectrometry has been used to measure the low levels of tritium (3H) in some of these samples. Pre-nuclear-bomb tritium levels in ice-core samples were approximately 12 TU in high-latitude meteoric waters and 3–9 TU in mid-latitude meteoric waters. Comparisons of 3H levels and 3H/137Cs + 239,240Pu ratios, which were quite low during the earliest fission-bomb detonations (1946–51) and substantially higher during thermonuclear hydrogen-fusion bomb testing (1952–64), provide a clear indication of the type of nuclear device detonated. This finding accords with the results from other ice-core studies of the distribution of anthropogenic radionuclides from bomb fallout.

NOTES ON SOME ARCTIC COLLEMBOLA

1938 ◽  
Vol 70 (7) ◽  
pp. 151-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. G. James
Keyword(s):  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Arctic Circle ◽  
Far North ◽  
Southern Shore

The following notes were made from a study of several species of Arctic Coollembola collected by Mr. W. J. Brown, of the Division of Entomology, Ottawa. Mr. Brown accompanied the voyage of the Canadian Arctic Patrol during August and September, 1935. During the trip he was able to collect on the southern shore of Baffin Island, and also well within the Arctic Circle as far north as Ellesmere Island.

scholarly journals On the Special Rheological Properties of Ancient Microparticle-Laden Northern Hemisphere Ice as Derived from Bore-Hole and Core Measurements

1986 ◽  
Vol 32 (112) ◽  
pp. 501-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.A. Fisher ◽  
R.M. Koerner
Keyword(s):  
Rheological Properties ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Crystal Size ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Devon Island ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Density Flow ◽  
Density Enhancement ◽  
Flow Enhancement

AbstractIn the Northern Hemisphere, ice layers which have high microparticle concentrations (in particular late Wisconsin) are “softer” than modern or Holocene ice. Such ice deforms more readily in bore-hole tilt and closure measurements. This enhancement in flow, which is shownnotto be related toc-axis concentration, has a maximum of three for late Wisconsin ice. The closure and tilt of a bore hole in the Agassiz Ice Cap, Ellesmere Island, drilled in 1977, has been followed every year since its drilling and the flow enhancement observed has been compared to the following quantities measured in the cores: concentration, δ(18O), crystal size,c-axis, Ca, Na, conductivity, and density. Flow enhancement of the ice age and bottom ice was found to be unrelated toc-axis concentration and density. Enhancement of flow is best related to microparticle (or Ca) concentration which in turn seems to be inversely related to crystal size. The latter relationship also seems to hold for the Devon Island Ice Cap and Greenland. In future, modellers of northern ice ages should use model ice that is three times softer than modern or Holocene ice.

NOTES ON NEARCTIC HEPATICAE: XIII. THE GENUS TRITOMARIA (LOPHOZIACEAE) IN ARCTIC CANADA

1958 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolf M. Schuster
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Oil Bodies ◽  
Arctic Canada ◽  
Eastern Canada

Only four species of Tritomaria Schiffn. have been described, all found in cold to boreal regions of the northern hemisphere. Of these, only T. quinquedentata (Huds.) Buch has been known from the arctic portions of eastern Canada. The range of this species in Canada east of the 100 meridian is tabulated, and two varieties, var. turgida (Lindb.) Weim. and var. grandiretis Buch and Arnell, are described from the same area. The latter variant is here first recorded from North America: it is presumably a polyploid, possessing larger cells and more numerous oil-bodies. T. heterophylla Schuster is described from materials from northernmost Ellesmere Island. It is allied to T. scitula, from which it differs in purplish pigmentation, broader than long leaves, and spinose-dentate perichaetial bracts. The last peculiarity serves to differentiate it from all other species of the genus. A key to all of the species and varieties, all known from eastern Canada, is given.

The last glaciation of east-central Ellesmere Island, Nunavut: ice dynamics, deglacial chronology, and sea level change

2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (10) ◽  
pp. 1355-1371 ◽  
Author(s):  
John England ◽  
I Rod Smith ◽  
David JA Evans
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Regional Variability ◽  
Ice Dynamics ◽  
East Central ◽  
Baffin Bay ◽  
Ice Stream ◽  
The Impact

During the last glacial maximum of east-central Ellesmere Island, trunk glaciers inundated the landscape, entering the Smith Sound Ice Stream. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates on individual shell fragments in till indicate that the ice advanced after 19 ka BP. The geomorphic and sedimentary signatures left by the trunk glaciers indicate that the glaciers were polythermal. The configuration and chronology of this ice is relevant to the reconstruction of ice core records from northwestern Greenland, the history of iceberg rafting of clastic sediments to northern Baffin Bay, the reopening of the seaway between the Arctic Ocean and Baffin Bay, and the regional variability of arctic paleoenvironments. Deglaciation began with the separation of Ellesmere Island and Greenland ice at fiord mouths ~8-8.5 ka BP. Ice reached fiord heads between 6.5 and 4.4 ka BP. Trunk glacier retreat from the fiords of east-central Ellesmere Island occurred up to 3000 years later than in west coast fiords. This later retreat was favoured by (1) impoundment by the Smith Sound Ice Stream in Kane Basin until ~8.5 ka BP, which moderated the impact of high summer melt recorded in nearby ice cores between ~11.5 and 8.5 ka BP; (2) the shallow bathymetry and narrowness (<2 km) of the east coast fiords, which lowered calving rates following separation of Innuitian and Greenland ice; and (3) the likelihood of higher precipitation along east Ellesmere Island. Glaciers throughout the field area readvanced during the late Holocene. The greater advance of coastal glaciers is attributed to their proximity to the North Water polynya in Baffin Bay.

Wisconsinan and pre-Wisconsinan ice thicknesses on Ellesmere Island, Canada: inferences from ice cores

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Koerner ◽  
D. A. Fisher ◽  
W. S. B. Paterson
Keyword(s):  
Ice Cores ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Climatic Warming ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Basal Melting

Study of two cores through an ice cap on northern Ellesmere Island suggests (1) during the Wisconsin Glaciation the ice near the crest was never more than about 200 m thicker than at present; (2) in a preceding glaciation, the ice was thicker than this, and the local ice divide near the boreholes was eliminated; (3) early in the Sangamon Interglacial, basal melting occurred in a deep bedrock valley south of the borehole site; and (4) the change in δ18O at the Wisconsinan–Holocene transition is 11‰, of which at least 8‰ results from climatic warming.

Middle Devonian brachiopods from the Bird Fiord Formation, Arctic Canada

2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Rong-Yu ◽  
Brian Jones
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Middle Devonian ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Canada ◽  
Early Devonian ◽  
Delta Plain ◽  
The Cross

The late Early Devonian to Middle Devonian Bird Fiord Formation, which is up to 900 m thick, is exposed along an extensive outcrop belt from stretches from Ellesmere Island to Bathurst Island in Arctic Canada. This formation, which encompasses sediments that accumulated in sabkha, deltaic, and shelf settings, is divided into six members. The Blubber Point, Baad Fiord, Norwegian Bay, and Cardigan Strait members, which include sediments that formed on an open marine shelf, are characterized by a diverse biota of brachiopods, mollusks, corals, trilobites, and sponges. The Cross Bay and Grise Fiord members, which encompass sediments that formed in a sabkha and delta plain settings, respectively, are generally devoid of fossils.A collection of 47,026 brachiopods, which came from 140 collections made at 34 locations throughout the outcrop belt of the Bird Fiord Formation, contains 22 species of brachiopods that belong to 21 genera. This biota includes six new species: Gypidula mega, Spinatrypa (Isospinatrypa) parva, Desquamatia (Independatrypa) fortis, Nucleospira stelcki, Warrenella grinnellensis, and Cranaena briceae. Four genera (Arcticastrophia Li and Jones, 2002, Borealistrophia Li and Jones, 2002, Grinnellathyris Li and Jones, 2002, and Costacranaena Johnson and Perry, 1976) and 16 species of brachiopods are endemic to the Arctic Canada. Conversely, the fauna also includes European elements such as Nucleospira lens (Schnur), Spinatrypa (Isospinatrypa), and Warrenella. These taxa may indicate that there was some communication between the Canadian Arctic and Europe during Middle Devonian.

scholarly journals Frost flower chemical signature in winter snow on Vestfonna ice cap, Nordaustlandet, Svalbard

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Beaudon ◽  
J. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Snow Pack ◽  
Sulphate Content ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Winter Snow ◽  
Frost Flowers

Abstract. The chemistry of snow and ice cores from Svalbard is influenced by variations in local sea ice margin and distance to open water. Snow pits sampled at two summits of Vestfonna ice cap (Nordaustlandet, Svalbard), exhibit spatially heterogeneous soluble ions concentrations despite similar accumulation rates, reflecting the importance of small-scale weather patterns on this island ice cap. The snow pack on the western summit shows higher average values of marine ions and a winter snow layer that is relatively depleted in sulphate. One part of the winter snow pack exhibits a [SO42-/Na+] ratio reduced by two thirds compared with its ratio in sea water. This low sulphate content in winter snow is interpreted as the signature of frost flowers, which are formed on young sea ice when offshore winds predominate. Frost flowers have been described as the dominant source of sea salt to aerosol and precipitation in ice cores in coastal Antarctica but this is the first time their chemical signal has been described in the Arctic. The eastern summit does not show any frost flower signature and we interpret the unusually dynamic ice transport and rapid formation of thin ice on the Hinlopen Strait as the source of the frost flowers.

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