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2015/10/19 at 5:25 pm
Southern Hemisphere September 2015 Rain Water Test Report.
The test equipment has had an upgrade.
For testing until now, a Gamma Spectacular GS-1100A sound card spectrometry driver was plugged into the mic input of a laptop. This laptop mic input could only sample the test signal up to 96K 16 bit. A external Xonar USB sound card is now being used instead of the standard laptop microphone input.
This means the test signal can now be sampled at 192k 24 Bit. This has resulted in a significant improvement in sensitivity, particularly at low keV energies.
A paper towel rain filter design was used again this month, rather than the polyester filter used previously. This paper towel filter was sun dried for a longer period than last months filter, so it had less moisture content when tested.
Filter Design: http://sccc.org.au/down-pipe-filter-design
As usual, Lead Pb-210 than Beryllium Be-7 were the main isotopes detected rainwater filter. Rainfall for September was 59 mm.
http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Down-pipe-September-paper-filter-131015-TV67-20c-84600-B.png
Previous Rain water and soil tests can be found here.
http://sccc.org.au/pages/The-Food-Lab.html#Local_Rain_Water
2015/10/05 at 4:23 pm
Southern Hemisphere Background Radiation Report For September 2015
September 2015 Summary
September 2015 monthly average background radiation level was 5% above the pre-Fukushima average. This is considerably lower than the September 2012 and 2013 average.
Caloundra Australia September day average chart:
http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Caloundra-local-average-background-radiation-levels-September-2015.jpg
September average for 2014 was 5% above the pre-Fukushima average.
September average for 2013 was 15% above the pre-Fukushima average.
September average for 2012 was 13% above the pre-Fukushima average.
Cairns Report:
Cairns is on the east coast of Australia, and it is much closer to the equator than Caloundra, see location map.
http://sccc.org.au/monitoring/Australian-Map.jpg
Here is the Caloundra and Cairns September day average background comparison chart.
Thanks again to the Cairns station operator for this report, and chart.
“The readings stayed close to my baseline of 0.125 uSV/hr for the whole month. Glad, nothing of significance to report. Yours also look pretty parallel to mine.”
In the chart, Cairns is red and Caloundra yellow.
http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Cairns-Caloundra-comparison-for-September-2015.jpg
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The Caloundra year average charts show a consistent seasonal variation in background levels since Fukushima. Most of the equatorial barrier air flow break through between the Northern and Southern hemispheres, happen in the warmer months. On this page you will find all the month and year average charts for local background radiation levels, from November 2007 to 2015 for Caloundra.
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.
2015/09/07 at 4:58 pm
Southern Hemisphere August 2015 Rain Water Test Report
I used part of a paper towel roll for the rain water filter this month, instead of the usual polyester wool filter. The theory is that it may capture more soluble material than the polyester wool. A test result similar to the polyester filter was observed, only very small traces of Lead-210 and Beryllium-7 were captured. The exception being that the cellulose and water content of the paper appeared to be filtering out very low energy X-rays.
A bit more rain fell this month compared to last month, 159mm for August.
This clean paper towel filter was tested in the lead shielded test chamber for 24 hours, and that test result was then used for background subtraction from the used filter test result.
Here is the test chart minus that background.
http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Down-pipe-August-paper-filter-030915-TV67-20c-84600-B-text.png
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.
2015/09/01 at 8:30 pm
Southern Hemisphere Background Radiation Report For August 2015
August 2015 Summary
More good news here at Caloundra, there haven’t been any significant upticks or events to report for months now, plus the background levels have stabilized. The background levels are not at pre-Fukushima levels, but close.
August 2015 monthly average background radiation level was 5% above the pre-Fukushima average.
August day average chart:
http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Caloundra-local-average-background-radiation-levels-August-2015.jpg
August average for 2014 was 4% above the pre-Fukushima average.
August average for 2013 was 8% above the pre-Fukushima average.
August average for 2012 was 9% above the pre-Fukushima average.
Caloundra and Cairns August day average background comparison chart – Thanks again to the Cairns station operator for this chart and report. Cairns is on the east coast of Australia, and it is much closer to the equator than Caloundra, see location map.
http://sccc.org.au/monitoring/Australian-Map.jpg
Cairns Monitoring Station Report:
“I noticed increasing readings in the last week of the month and got a lot of alarms set at 0.4 uSV/hr during the day.
I thought it might be a good idea to top up the battery charge, getting that many alarms.
As soon as I started to charge the battery, the alarms stopped immediately and the readings went back close to my baseline of 0.125 uSv/hr.
So I regard the last weeks increased readings as questionable, after observing the above behaviour.
You also might want to take notice of this particular equipment behaviour of the Gamma Scout Rechargeable for future reference.”
In the chart, Cairns is red and Caloundra yellow.
http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Cairns-Caloundra-comparison-for-August-2015.jpg
On this page you will find all the month and year average charts, for local background radiation levels from November 2007 to 2015.
http://sccc.org.au/yearly-average-background-radiation-levels
More detailed long term data can be found here.
http://sccc.org.au/archives/2630
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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