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Lead and radium in the lower stratosphere

Nature volume 263, pages 303–304 (1976)Cite this article

Abstract

MORE than a decade ago Junge1 found that the concentration of particles in the stratosphere is greater than in the upper troposphere, and that their main chemical constituents were ammonium and sodium sulphates, thought to arise from the ascent of their volatile precursors H2S and SO2 (ref. 2). In addition, minute concentrations of aluminium, calcium, chlorine, chromium, cobalt, copper, gold, iron, manganese, silicon and titanium have been detected3,4, which, having no volatile precursors, enter the stratosphere as particles. As the extraterrestrial fraction in stratospheric aerosols is extremely small5, their main source seems to be the surface of the Earth, but data available on the nature of such sources, and on the chemical composition and concentration of stratospheric aerosols are rather scarce—an astonishing fact, in view of their possible climatic impact. With this in mind, we have measured the concentrations of stable lead, 226Ra and its radioactive daughter 210Pb at various heights. These substances enter the atmosphere from several surface sources, both natural and artificial6. The concentration of 226Ra in particulate materials such as soil dust or fly ash is well known, and may be used for the assessment of the stratospheric content of this kind of dust.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection, Warsaw, Poland

    Z. JAWOROWSKI & L. KOWNACKA

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  1. Z. JAWOROWSKI
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  2. L. KOWNACKA
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JAWOROWSKI, Z., KOWNACKA, L. Lead and radium in the lower stratosphere. Nature 263, 303–304 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/263303a0

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