Abstract
AbstractTritium is one of the most important environmental tracers in isotope hydrology for understanding the dynamics of groundwater and connected surface water and has been used in a wide range of applications at different scales. A key requirement for using tritium as a tracer is the knowledge of its spatial and temporal distribution in different water types. As a fundamental input, quantity long‐term time series of tritium in precipitation are of particular importance. In this paper, the authors present an overview of tritium data sets of the Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), the Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU) and the German Weather Service (DWD). Since the 1970s, all three institutions have monitored the tritium concentration at 53 surface water and 37 precipitation stations on a monthly basis. The primary purpose of the data set was to provide baseline information for different water types all over Germany as an integral part of the German radiation protection monitoring system. Additionally, as geochemically inert tracer, tritium provides a unique tool to different user groups in a wide range of research questions and applications.
Highlights
Radiation protection regulation requires the monitoring of tritium concentration in precipitation and in major streams and coastal waters of Germany used as federal water ways
The monitoring includes 17 precipitation collection stations and 53 surface water collection stations. This tritium monitoring program of the BfG has been complemented by tritium analyses in precipitation by the HMGU and the DWD
Each collection station of the BfG consists of an approximately 0.6-m2 large collection pan from where the water flows through a hose into a 50-L container connected to an overflow
Summary
Radiation protection regulation requires the monitoring of tritium concentration in precipitation and in major streams and coastal waters of Germany used as federal water ways. The monitoring includes 17 precipitation collection stations and 53 surface water collection stations. This tritium monitoring program of the BfG has been complemented by tritium analyses in precipitation by the HMGU and the DWD. Long-term time series of tritium in precipitation at 37 locations and in surface water at 53 locations are available (Figure 1). They provide a temporally and spatially unique high-resolution data set, to be used for regulatory and scientific purposes, advancing our understanding in hydrology by using tritium as an environmental tracer
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