Radioactivity Exploration from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Part 6: The Arctic Ocean-96 expedition

The Swedish Arctic Ocean-96 expedition arranged by the Swedish Polar Research Committee took place during 1996 with the Swedish icebreaker M/S Oden. The expedition focused on studying the distribution of radionuclides in different water masses in the central Arctic Ocean. The expedition crossed the Barents Sea, entered the Nansen Basin at the St. Anna Trough, and continued north across the Amundsen Basin. The main part of the expedition was concentrated on the north Lomonosov Ridge and the return route passed the North Pole and went south along 10 oE towards Svalbard. In both legs, water samples in the surface and subsurface layers were collected for the determination of fission products and transuranic elements in seawater and sediment. The highest 137Cs, 90Sr and 129l activities and 134Cs/137Cs activity ratios are found in a band stretching from the northern Lomonosov Ridge, over the North Pole and south along 10-15 oE to 85 oN. The releases from European nuclear fuel reprocessing plants and Chernobyl fallout traced by the 129I and 134Cs/137Cs signals respectively have approximately the same spatial distribution in the Arctic Ocean surface layer. The activity concentration of 90Sr in surface water is about 2 Bq.m-3. For 239+240Pu the lowest concentrations in the surface water of 4 mBq.m-3 was found on the Lomonosov Ridge and in the Makarov Basin. In the Eurasian Basin, the concentrations 239+240Pu are about 13 mBq.m-3 . For all the radionuclides analysed, the water profiles generally show activities decreasing with depth. An exception is the high 137Cs activity concentrations found in the lower halocline layer at the Lomonosov Ridge and Makarov Basin stations. The maxima were not observed in the 90Sr or l29l measurements. It is assumed to be due to a contribution of Chernobyl fallout to the Arctic Ocean surface layers in the years around 1990. Inventories down to 900 m death reveal that between 60-70 % of the 137Cs, 90Sr and in the Arctic Ocean water, are present in the surface layer inflow from the Atlantic. The total inventories down to 900 m in the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean estimate to 6.7 PBq for 137Cs, 3.4 PBq for 90Sr and 5.3x1028 atoms for 129l