Coloured rain dust from Sahara Desert is still radioactive.
A coloured rain event originating from the Sahara Desert occurred on April 9, 2000 at Thessaloniki, Northern Greece (40 degrees 38'N, 22 degrees 58'E). The radioactive nuclides that were determined in a coloured rain dust sample were 137Cs of Chernobyl origin, 7Be of cosmogenic origin and 40K of terrestrial origin. Cesium-137 still remained 14 years after the Chernobyl accident, reaching 26.6 Bq kg-1 in the coloured rain dust.
Papastefanou
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Atomic and Nuclear Physics Laboratory, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54006, Greece. papastefanou@physics.auth.gr
Manolopoulou
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M
Stoulos
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S
Ioannidou
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A
Gerasopoulos
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E
D000352:Africa, Northern; D001608:Beryllium / Q000032:analysis; D002586:Cesium / Q000032:analysis; D003889:Desert Climate; D004391:Dust; D006115:Greece; D011188:Potassium / Q000032:analysis; D011847:Radioactive Fallout / Q000032:analysis*; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D011891:Rain; D014455:Ukraine
D004391:Dust; D011847:Radioactive Fallout; D011868:Radioisotopes; D002586:Cesium; D001608:Beryllium; D011188:Potassium