The inflow of polonium ²¹⁰Po from Vistula river catchments area

Abstract

The activities of polonium ²¹⁰Po in Vistula unfiltered water samples, collected from November 2002 to November 2003, were measured using the alpha spectrometry. In winter, the highest concentration of ²¹⁰Po was in Vistula river water from Toruń (2.72 ± 0.04 Bq·m⁻³) and from the Wieprz river (5.46 ± 0.07 Bq·m⁻³ [Bequerel per cubic metre]), and the lowest was in water from Nida river (0.59 ± 0.02 Bq·m⁻³). During spring, the highest concentration of ²¹⁰Po was observed in Vistula water collected in Dęblin (5.98 ± 0.03 Bq·m⁻³) and the lowest in water from the Narew river (1.20 ± 0.12 Bq·m⁻³). In summer, the highest concentration of ²¹⁰Po was in Nogat river water collected in Malbork (3.18 ± 0.04 Bq·m⁻³) and the Bzura river (5.30 ± 0.02 Bq·m⁻³), the lowest in Wieprz river (0.49 ± 0.09 Bq·m⁻³) and Vistula river water from Kraków (1.44 ± 0.05 Bq·m⁻³). In autumn, the highest ²¹⁰Po concentration was in Bzura river (8.93 ± 0.03 Bq·m⁻³), the lowest in Vistula water from Grudziądz (1.51 ± 0.04 Bq·m⁻³), and Toruń (1.89 ± 0.05 Bq·m⁻³). The highest quantity of ²¹⁰Po was transported from Vistula catchments area to the Baltic Sea in spring and the lowest in summer. Annually, the southern Baltic Sea is enriched by about 73.7 GBq ²¹⁰Po (with Leniwka and Nogat rivers), with 71.6 GBq going to Gdańsk Bay and 2.1 GBq to Vistula Lagoon. The highest surface ²¹⁰Po runoff was observed in spring (to 1370 kBq·km⁻²·quarter⁻¹ for Dunajec catchment's area), the lowest in summer (for Nida catchment's area to 100 kBq·km⁻²·quarter⁻¹).

Keywords:

• Polonium
• Po-210
• Vistula River
• catchment area

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Sciences and Informatysation of the financial support of this work under grant: KBN P04G03826, DS-8210-4-0086-6, DS-8210-4-0086-7 and BW/8000-5-0403-7.

Notes

*[m^3.s⁻¹] – a cubic meter per second.