A CASE STUDY OF RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT

Abstract

During September 1961 a series of balloon ascents made from Flin Flon, Canada, carrying scintillation counters sensitive to gamma radiation, revealed the existence of shallow stable atmospheric layers carrying radioactive debris, presumably from the Russian test series during the same month. The debris layers encountered on September 14 and 15 have been studied in particular. The debris detected over Flin Flon on September 14, 2221 GCT, at 650 mb had under gone strong sinking motion. One may conclude that it came out of the stratosphere shortly prior to September 13, 12 GCT, entering the troposphere through the stable layer underneath the jet core, sometimes referred to as ''jet stream front''. Beginning with September 17 a distinct area of radioactive fallout begins to appear at the surface over the eastern United States. Some of this debris seems to be identical with the one detected over Flin Flon, and it apparently was transported by the same jet stream. Part of the fallout is associated with a small collapsing cold dome travelling ahead of this jet stream.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1963
Accession Number
AD0403276

Entities

People

  • Elmar R. Reiter

Organizations

  • Colorado State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Atmospheric Sciences
  • Case Studies
  • Cosmic Rays
  • Dew Point
  • Gamma Rays
  • Health
  • Health Services
  • Jet Streams
  • Measurement
  • Nuclear Explosions
  • Nuclear Fallout
  • Pressure Distribution
  • Public Health
  • Radiation
  • Research Facilities
  • Scintillation Counters
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Fault Tolerant Diagnosis of Black and White Balloon Isolation Tests Using ¥.
  • Nuclear and Radiation Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Orbital Debris