Glaciers in Antarctica are Still Releasing Radioactive, The Residual of the Nuclear Weapons Test

TRIBUNBATAM.id - According to a recent study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, ice sheets in Antarctica still emit radioactive elements as a result of nuclear weapons experiments conducted by the US, 70 years ago. 

Chlorine-36 is a natural radioactive isotope that can be formed when argon gas reacts with cosmic rays in the atmosphere.

It can also form during a nuclear explosion in the ocean. When neutrons react with chlorine on the ocean floor, it can evaporate into the stratosphere, travel around the world, and finally settle permanently in Antarctic ice and snow. 

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It is known that the US conducted several nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific Ocean in the 1950s and 1960s. In less than 20 years, around 19 series of operational tests have been carried out, resulting in more than 230 explosions.

To understand how chlorine-36s 'behavior' over time - especially in regions with varying snow levels - the researchers took ice core samples from snow holes in Vostok, a Russian research center in East Antarctica that receives less snow, between years 1949 to 2007. 

They then compared it with samples taken from Talos Dome, an area of 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) that had a lot of snow, in the period 1910 to 1980. 

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The results showed that the ice at Talos Dome had decreased over time and had quadrupled the levels of chlorine-36 in 1980. 

That is, snow there still releases radioactive isotopes due to nuclear tests in the oceans conducted many years ago. These results also confirm that chlorine-36 is far more agile than expected - it moves from the depths of the ocean to the surface. 

Going forward, the researchers plan to drill a 1.5 million-year-old ice core to better understand how Vostok releases chlorine-36, also adding information on how the substance accumulates in snow bags over time. (*) 

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