A radiometric analysis between 1990 and 1991 reported the presence of radioactive isotopes Cs-134 and Cs-137 in the western Canary Islands. It was a quickly appointed reconnaissance. a very obvious origin: Chernobyl.
It was not difficult to associate the radioactive material found at the time with the nuclear disaster in Ukraine five years ago. Also, those of the last nuclear weapons used, both Japan’s and the different tests carried out, were far and far behind, making it impossible for them to be the cause of the samples. The Canary Islands have a short half-life since these isotopes.
However, despite the close relationship between the Chernobyl nuclear accident and the radioactive isotopes of Cesium, The fact is, the researchers could not explain how it traveled more than 4,600 kilometers before being dropped off to the Canary Islands.
This is the introduction to a study published in the ‘Journal of Geochemical Exploration’ by eight researchers from the universities of La Laguna and Malaga who found a possible explanation for this finding. These are María López-Pérez, Francisco Hernández, Esperanza Liger, Elisa Gordo, José Carlos Fernández-Aldecoa, Francisco Javier Expósito, Juan Pedro Díaz, José Hernández-Armas and Pedro A. Salazar-Carballo.
heat is the answer
The answer to this mystery that has been waiting to be solved since the 1990s is hazeDust suspended from the Sahara is a phenomenon for which time records are not available over long periods to explain the appearance of radionuclides.
“We believe that the accidental Cs-134 was first deposited in North Africa, then resuspended (resuspended) and transported to the islands through various dust storms,” the study said. study conducted by the researcher at the University of La Laguna (Tenerife) María López Pérez.
In such a phenomenon, convection moves dust to altitudes of up to six and seven kilometers over the Sahara and Sahel regions. “Once the dust reaches the west coast of Africa, it rises above the colder trade winds, forming an elevated layer called the Sahara Air Layer (SAL),” says the study. These dust particles often travel to the Canary Islands, causing periods of haze.
Likewise, the research was based on the analysis of aerosol data collected in the last 20 years in the Canary Islands together with the density records of dust columns between 1986 and 1991, It shows a continuous input of mineral dust and Cesium-137 from North Africa, and this correlates with periods of haze.
Here are some data that were not available in the 1990s and that are key to explaining how the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, which released small quantities of radioactive material across Europe and the northern hemisphere, could have reached the Canary Islands.
Reference work: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0375674222001431?via%3Dihub
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