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2017/09/11 at 8:13 pm
Southern Hemisphere August 2017 Background Report. (17% above Average)
Station locations
http://sccc.org.au/monitoring/Australian-Map.jpg
This short animation of Northern and Southern Hemisphere air circulation, shows why we can get detections so far south.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh011eAYjAA
Report
Caloundra August 2017 – Radon levels have been low and would not account for the month average increase. There was only 24 mm of rain for August. Significant day average increases coincided with Eastern Pacific air flows.
Caloundra August month average, year comparisons.
2017 17% above pre-Fukushima average
2016 8% above pre-Fukushima average
2015 5% above pre-Fukushima average
2014 4% above pre-Fukushima average
2013 8% above pre-Fukushima average
2012 9% above pre-Fukushima average
August month day average chart,
Year and month average local background radiation levels from 2007 to 2017.
http://sccc.org.au/yearly-average-background-radiation-levels
Disclaimer: This is an amateur volunteer run service. Human error can provide incorrect information, and equipment malfunction can produce false readings. Do not rely on, or take action upon information presented here, without further research.
2017/08/12 at 6:08 pm
Southern Hemisphere July 2017 Background Report. (17% above Average)
Station locations
http://sccc.org.au/monitoring/Australian-Map.jpg
This short animation of Northern and Southern Hemisphere air circulation, shows why we can get detections so far south.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh011eAYjAA
Report
Caloundra July 2017 – The local background level increase on 7th July coincided with an increased detection of Radon gas in the air. This increase in Radon levels would not account for all of the day average increase. There were no significant rain washout events. The wettest day was the 6th, with 14mmm of rain. What created the significant background increases for June and July this year?
Caloundra July month average, year comparisons.
2017 17% above pre-Fukushima average
2016 8% above pre-Fukushima average
2015 5% above pre-Fukushima average
2014 5% above pre-Fukushima average
2013 5% above pre-Fukushima average
2012 9% above pre-Fukushima average
July month day average chart,
Year and month average local background radiation levels from 2007 to 2017.
http://sccc.org.au/yearly-average-background-radiation-levels
Disclaimer: This is an amateur volunteer run service. Human error can provide incorrect information, and equipment malfunction can produce false readings. Do not rely on, or take action upon information presented here, without further research.
2017/07/08 at 5:24 pm
Southern Hemisphere June 2017 Background Report. (20% above Average)
Station locations
http://sccc.org.au/monitoring/Australian-Map.jpg
This short animation of Northern and Southern Hemisphere air circulation, shows why we can get detections so far south.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh011eAYjAA
Report
Alert Caloundra June 2017
There was a steady increase in background levels in early June, that increased to alert levels towards mid June.
What do the Alert levels here mean?
http://sccc.org.au/what-does-each-step-in-the-alert-level-colour-code-mean
As this event started in early June, the bench area around the monitoring GammaScout Geiger counter was cleaned, and the GammaScout was also cleaned to eliminate the possibility of dust contamination. This has made no difference, as background levels remained higher than usual. This is the Southern Hemisphere winter. Until now, no June pre or post Fukushima background has been higher than 7% above average. We have 10 years of local records to refer to.
It was mostly dry for the month, with only 20mm of rain for the whole month. The local live radon monitor did detect small increases in local Radon levels that coincided with recorded background radiation level increases. These Radon level increases would have been a contributing factor to the background level increase, but not significant enough to be the only factor.
Caloundra June month average, year comparisons.
2017 20% above pre-Fukushima average
2016 7% above pre-Fukushima average
2015 3% above pre-Fukushima average
2014 7% above pre-Fukushima average
2013 7% above pre-Fukushima average
2012 3% above pre-Fukushima average
June month day average chart,
The June 2017 Cairns Caloundra comparison chart, shows that Cairns did not experience the background swings that Caloundra did.
2017 month day average chart so far,
Year and month average local background radiation levels from 2007 to 2017.
http://sccc.org.au/yearly-average-background-radiation-levels
Water Tank Filter Test
Here is a test of 34 grams of organic material caught in a local water tank inlet filter.
The main isotopes detected were Beryllium Be-7 and Lead Pb-210. Beryllium Be-7 can be created naturally in trace amounts by spallation in the upper atmosphere by cosmic rays. Lead Pb-210 is the decay daughter of naturally occurring Radon-222 decay.
The scintillator device used for testing loses sensitivity with increasing isotope energy (keV). Taking the difference in sensitivity into account, the Be-7 peak is around 14 times higher than than the chart indicates. The Pb-210 would be around twice as high as show on the chart.
That is a lot of Be-7 in 34 grams of material. Would the levels of Pb-210 and Be-7 detected in the organic material collected from the water tank filter be sufficient to explain the significantly elevated local background levels here in June?
My Theory
There must have been a significant amount of cosmic ray spallation happening in the upper atmosphere recently, to produce this much Be-7.
The sun is becoming far less radiant. The sun is going into one of it’s quiet periods. These occur approximately every four hundred years. Less radiance means the sun’s heliosphere is much weaker. The sun’s heliosphere acts as a shield, protecting the Earth from in coming cosmic rays. A much weaker heliosphere means more cosmic rays strike the upper atmosphere, which results in more atmospheric spallation, hence more Be-7 is detected in the water tank filter test.
I notice that when the elevated detections occurred in June, the wind was mostly coming from an easterly direction, off the Pacific Ocean. This suggests that volcanic and earthquake releases of naturally occurring Radon-222 into the atmosphere, was also a contributing factor.
Disclaimer: This is an amateur volunteer run service. Human error can provide incorrect information, and equipment malfunction can produce false readings. Do not rely on, or take action upon information presented here, without further research.
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