If this results from simple eddy diffusion, as some scientists believe,
it is a case of diffusion at a very high rate. Other scientists suggest
that other factors may have contributed to the vertical transport of the
radionuclides to these depths. Still others believe that the
strontium-90 and cesium-137 might not have originated with the U. S.
Pacific tests at all, but rather with Russian tests in the Arctic taking
place at about the same time. They propose the theory that a syphoning
effect in the Bering Strait causes a current to flow out of the Arctic
Ocean and down under the surface waters of the western Pacific. In
support of this, Japanese researchers cite a dissolved oxygen content
where these measurements were made that is different from that of other
deep water in the area. If this theory should be proved correct, it
would be the first indication that such a current exists.
Similar investigations have been conducted of the variations in depth of
strontium-90 concentration in the Atlantic Ocean. In February 1962, when
fallout from 1961 nuclear tests was high, tests south of Greenland
showed that mixing of fallout was fairly rapid through the top 800
meters of water. At greater depths a colder, saltier layer of water
contained only about half as much strontium-90, confirming other
evidence that interchange between water masses of different physical and
chemical properties is comparatively low.
Work such as this has emphasized the difficulty in making meaningful
measurements of man-made radiation in the ocean. One problem is to
separate the artificially produced radiation from the natural radiation,
namely that from potassium-40 (which accounts for 97% of oceanic
radiation) and from the radionuclides, such as tritium, carbon-14,
beryllium-7, beryllium-10, aluminum-26, and silicon-32, created in the
stratosphere naturally by cosmic-ray bombardment.
[Illustration: _In 1955 a scientific team aboard the U. S. Coast
Guard vessel_ Roger B. Taney _conducted a survey of ocean fallout in
the western Pacific. They collected marine organisms and water
samples at various depths on their 17,500-mile, 7-week journey._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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