TY - JOUR
T1 - Tritium in the Dead Sea
AU - Carmi, I.
AU - Gat, J. R.
AU - Stiller, M.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Mr. S. Kazes who performed the tritium measurements at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Dr. W. Weiss who kindly supplied the tritium data measured at the University of Heidelberg. The pioneering work of W.F. Libby in 1960 and the crucial data of J. Houtermans in 1964 are deeply appreciated. We wish also to thank Dr. D. Imboden who reviewd the manuscript and whose comments helped us improve the presentation of this paper. This research was supported by a grant from the United States-Israel Binational Foundation, Jerusalem, Israel.
PY - 1984/1/1
Y1 - 1984/1/1
N2 - Tritium data in the Dead Sea for the period 1960-1979 are given. Tritium levels have increased until 1965 in the upper layers of the Dead Sea reaching a level of 170 TU, in response to the atmospheric buildup of tritium from thermonuclear testing. The levels have been decreasing ever since, both because of rapidly declining atmospheric concentrations of tritium and because of mixing of the surface layers with tritium deficient, deeper water masses. The depth of penetration of the tracer delineated the depth of meromictic stratification and successfully monitored the deepening of the pycnocline, until the overturn in 1979 homogenised the entire tritium profile. Modelling the changing tritium inventory over this period showed the predominance of the direct exchange across the air/sea interface, both in the buildup of tritium in the lake and also in its subsequent removal from it. The good fit between calculated and measured tritium inventories confirmed the evaporation estimate of 1.46 m/yr (the mean value for the period) with a precision unattained by other methods.
AB - Tritium data in the Dead Sea for the period 1960-1979 are given. Tritium levels have increased until 1965 in the upper layers of the Dead Sea reaching a level of 170 TU, in response to the atmospheric buildup of tritium from thermonuclear testing. The levels have been decreasing ever since, both because of rapidly declining atmospheric concentrations of tritium and because of mixing of the surface layers with tritium deficient, deeper water masses. The depth of penetration of the tracer delineated the depth of meromictic stratification and successfully monitored the deepening of the pycnocline, until the overturn in 1979 homogenised the entire tritium profile. Modelling the changing tritium inventory over this period showed the predominance of the direct exchange across the air/sea interface, both in the buildup of tritium in the lake and also in its subsequent removal from it. The good fit between calculated and measured tritium inventories confirmed the evaporation estimate of 1.46 m/yr (the mean value for the period) with a precision unattained by other methods.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0021647932&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0012-821X(84)90104-3
DO - 10.1016/0012-821X(84)90104-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0021647932
SN - 0012-821X
VL - 71
SP - 377
EP - 389
JO - Earth and Planetary Science Letters
JF - Earth and Planetary Science Letters
IS - 2
ER -