title: Monitoring of (7)Be and gross beta in particulate matter of surface air from Mallorca Island, Spain.
abstract: Measurements of airbone radionuclides (7)Be and gross beta (Aβ) jointly with atmospheric aerosols, i.e. particulate matter (PM) were routinely carried out for 10 years (2004-2014) at the University of the Balearic Islands, Spain. A total of 728 filter (0.8 μm pore size) samples were collected, and in all of them (7)Be and Aβ specific activities were detected. The maximum and minimum specific activities monitored were 0.73 ± 0.41 - 15.8 ± 1.26 mBq m(-3) of (7)Be and 0.14 ± 0.02 - 2.55 ± 0.04 mBq m(-3) of Aβ. PM concentrations were also determined, showing seasonal behavior with the highest concentration in summer and the lowest one in winter. Several meteorological parameters have been considered to explain this intra-annual variation. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the dataset indicating that it is well represented by two principal components that explain 76.6% of total variance. Additionally, a second study with preliminary results of the specific activities of two natural radiotracers ((7)Be and (210)Pb) in PM10 samples was carried out. They were monitored for two years (2013-2015) in air of Mallorca Island. (7)Be and (210)Pb were detected in most of the PM10 filters, in 100% and 93% of them, respectively. The relationship between activities of both radionuclides and several relevant meteorological parameters was established at 95% confidence level. As a common result to PM and PM10 samples, a strong positive correlation between the evaluated radionuclides and temperature was found.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory (LaboRA), University of the Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
authors.forename: Melisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodas Ceballos
authors.affiliation: Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory (LaboRA), University of the Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borràs
authors.affiliation: Environmental Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (LQA(2)), University of the Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
authors.forename: Esteve
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gomila
authors.affiliation: Environmental Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (LQA(2)), University of the Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
authors.forename: José Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Estela
authors.affiliation: Environmental Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (LQA(2)), University of the Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
authors.forename: Víctor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cerdà
authors.affiliation: Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory (LaboRA), University of the Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Electronic address: laura.ferrer@uib.es.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferrer
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001608:Beryllium / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D062312:Islands; D007854:Lead / Q000032:analysis; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis*; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D012621:Seasons; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter; D011868:Radioisotopes; D007854:Lead; D001608:Beryllium
keywords: (210)Pb; (7)Be; A(β); Mallorca Island; PCA; PM