EGU23-12074, updated on 02 Sep 2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12074
EGU General Assembly 2023
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Atmospheric radon measurements to assess the relative representativeness of radon flux models

Dafina Kikaj1, Edward Chung1, Mareya Saba1, Ute Karstens2, Alistair Manning3, Chris Rennick1, Anita Ganesan4, Grant Foster5, Simon O’Doherty6, Angelina Wenger6, and Tim Arnold1,7
Dafina Kikaj et al.
  • 1National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, United Kingdom
  • 2ICOS ERIC, Carbon Portal, Lund, Sweden
  • 3UK Met Office, Exeter, United Kingdom
  • 4School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
  • 5School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
  • 6School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
  • 7School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

The unique physical and chemical characteristics of radon make it an excellent tracer of atmospheric mixing and transport processes. As such, it has long been a species of interest to the climate change research communities. However, reliable, high resolution radon flux maps are essential for the use of atmospheric radon in climate studies.

Validation of the existing radon flux maps and inventories is currently limited by the availability of systematic measurements of radon fluxes and other process-relevant parameters (e.g., physical characteristics and moisture content of soil). Localised measurements of radon flux, soil moisture and soil physical properties can provide some information to validate and improve flux maps.  On the other hand, high sensitivity atmospheric radon measurements in conjunction with atmospheric transport models would determine the relative representativeness of radon flux models over larger scales.

To tackle the validation of radon flux maps, atmospheric radon measurements were compared to the results of modelled radon concentrations calculated using the Lagrangian particle model, the Met Office Numerical Atmospheric Modelling Environment (NAME) and two available versions of European radon flux maps1. For this purpose, radon data from three UK greenhouse gases atmospheric monitoring stations located in Heathfield (an inland, 100 m tall tower), Tacolneston (an inland, 185 m tall tower), and Weybourne (a coastal site, 10 m tower) were used. The differences between measured and modelled radon concentrations on diurnal and monthly scales will be presented and discussed. The ratio of measured-modelled radon concentrations shows the potential to objectively assess the reliability of radon flux maps under different wind directions and atmospheric mixing conditions.

 

 

1 2015: doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.854715 and 2022: ICOS data search (icos-cp.eu).

How to cite: Kikaj, D., Chung, E., Saba, M., Karstens, U., Manning, A., Rennick, C., Ganesan, A., Foster, G., O’Doherty, S., Wenger, A., and Arnold, T.: Atmospheric radon measurements to assess the relative representativeness of radon flux models, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-12074, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12074, 2023.