Beryllium-7 in surface air–Multidecadal measurements in Serbia and Slovenia

Abstract

Beryllium-7 is a natural radionuclide produced in spallation processes in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Descent through the atmosphere brings this isotope to the lower altitudes and its abundance at the surface is a result of an interplay between transport and removal processes, both of which are influenced by local meteorological parameters. In this analysis we use the beryllium-7 specific activities measured in three locations to investigate spatial similarities and differences in the data sets. The measurement sites are: Belgrade, the capital of Serbia; Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, located around 500 km west of Belgrade; and Krško, a town in eastern Slovenia, located around 400 km west of Belgrade. The beryllium-7 measurements in Serbia and Slovenia started in 1991 and 1988, respectively. The specific activities were determined by standard gamma spectrometry at the Vinča Institute (Serbia) and Jožef Stefan Institute (Slovenia).