Environmental Gamma Dose Rate Monitoring and Radon Correlations: Evidence and Potential Applications
Gamma emitting radionuclides naturally present in the Earth’s crust and the radon exhaled by soil in the atmosphere with its short-lived progeny are two of the main contributors to the environmental gamma dose rate that typically characterizes an outdoor measurement site. The present work aims to in...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-05-01
|
| Series: | Environments |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/9/6/66 |
| _version_ | 1797487627654397952 |
|---|---|
| author | Alessandro Rizzo Giuseppe Antonacci Enrico Borra Francesco Cardellini Luca Ciciani Luciano Sperandio Ignazio Vilardi |
| author_facet | Alessandro Rizzo Giuseppe Antonacci Enrico Borra Francesco Cardellini Luca Ciciani Luciano Sperandio Ignazio Vilardi |
| author_sort | Alessandro Rizzo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Gamma emitting radionuclides naturally present in the Earth’s crust and the radon exhaled by soil in the atmosphere with its short-lived progeny are two of the main contributors to the environmental gamma dose rate that typically characterizes an outdoor measurement site. The present work aims to investigate variations in the environmental dose-rate time series originated by different natural phenomena, such as weather and seismic events, which can modify the radon concentration in the air. The data analyzed here were acquired over a five-year period using a Reuter–Stokes high-pressure ionization chamber placed in the ENEA Casaccia Research Center (Rome, Italy), from November 2013 to December 2018. The detector was set to take a single measurement of the equivalent ambient dose <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mi>H</mi><mo>*</mo></msup><mrow><mo>(</mo><mn>10</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> every 15 min, thereby collecting more than 184,000 values over the five-year period under consideration. The detector’s sensitivity to the short-lived radon progeny was verified in a preparatory study performed by means of simultaneous radon flux measurement on field. Variations induced by meteorological events as well as variations potentially induced by seismic events were investigated by implementing different data analysis techniques. In the latter case, a retrospective preliminary study was conducted, applying the ARFIMA class of models in order to test the method’s potential. The analysis techniques, results and potential applications are presented and discussed in this article. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T23:50:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3d2fd0f6f2954fc9b9c0f178fdb3c0a9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3298 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T23:50:27Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environments |
| spelling | doaj.art-3d2fd0f6f2954fc9b9c0f178fdb3c0a92023-11-23T16:34:09ZengMDPI AGEnvironments2076-32982022-05-01966610.3390/environments9060066Environmental Gamma Dose Rate Monitoring and Radon Correlations: Evidence and Potential ApplicationsAlessandro Rizzo0Giuseppe Antonacci1Enrico Borra2Francesco Cardellini3Luca Ciciani4Luciano Sperandio5Ignazio Vilardi6Institute of Radioprotection (IRP), Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), 00123 Roma, ItalyInstitute of Radioprotection (IRP), Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), 00123 Roma, ItalyInstitute of Radioprotection (IRP), Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), 00123 Roma, ItalyNational Institute of Ionizing Radiation Metrology (INMRI), Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), 00123 Roma, ItalyInstitute of Radioprotection (IRP), Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), 00123 Roma, ItalyInstitute of Radioprotection (IRP), Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), 00123 Roma, ItalyInstitute of Radioprotection (IRP), Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), 00123 Roma, ItalyGamma emitting radionuclides naturally present in the Earth’s crust and the radon exhaled by soil in the atmosphere with its short-lived progeny are two of the main contributors to the environmental gamma dose rate that typically characterizes an outdoor measurement site. The present work aims to investigate variations in the environmental dose-rate time series originated by different natural phenomena, such as weather and seismic events, which can modify the radon concentration in the air. The data analyzed here were acquired over a five-year period using a Reuter–Stokes high-pressure ionization chamber placed in the ENEA Casaccia Research Center (Rome, Italy), from November 2013 to December 2018. The detector was set to take a single measurement of the equivalent ambient dose <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mi>H</mi><mo>*</mo></msup><mrow><mo>(</mo><mn>10</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> every 15 min, thereby collecting more than 184,000 values over the five-year period under consideration. The detector’s sensitivity to the short-lived radon progeny was verified in a preparatory study performed by means of simultaneous radon flux measurement on field. Variations induced by meteorological events as well as variations potentially induced by seismic events were investigated by implementing different data analysis techniques. In the latter case, a retrospective preliminary study was conducted, applying the ARFIMA class of models in order to test the method’s potential. The analysis techniques, results and potential applications are presented and discussed in this article.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/9/6/66environmental physicsdose rate monitoringradonReuter–Stokes ionization chamberARFIMA modelsweather events |
| spellingShingle | Alessandro Rizzo Giuseppe Antonacci Enrico Borra Francesco Cardellini Luca Ciciani Luciano Sperandio Ignazio Vilardi Environmental Gamma Dose Rate Monitoring and Radon Correlations: Evidence and Potential Applications Environments environmental physics dose rate monitoring radon Reuter–Stokes ionization chamber ARFIMA models weather events |
| title | Environmental Gamma Dose Rate Monitoring and Radon Correlations: Evidence and Potential Applications |
| title_full | Environmental Gamma Dose Rate Monitoring and Radon Correlations: Evidence and Potential Applications |
| title_fullStr | Environmental Gamma Dose Rate Monitoring and Radon Correlations: Evidence and Potential Applications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Environmental Gamma Dose Rate Monitoring and Radon Correlations: Evidence and Potential Applications |
| title_short | Environmental Gamma Dose Rate Monitoring and Radon Correlations: Evidence and Potential Applications |
| title_sort | environmental gamma dose rate monitoring and radon correlations evidence and potential applications |
| topic | environmental physics dose rate monitoring radon Reuter–Stokes ionization chamber ARFIMA models weather events |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/9/6/66 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alessandrorizzo environmentalgammadoseratemonitoringandradoncorrelationsevidenceandpotentialapplications AT giuseppeantonacci environmentalgammadoseratemonitoringandradoncorrelationsevidenceandpotentialapplications AT enricoborra environmentalgammadoseratemonitoringandradoncorrelationsevidenceandpotentialapplications AT francescocardellini environmentalgammadoseratemonitoringandradoncorrelationsevidenceandpotentialapplications AT lucaciciani environmentalgammadoseratemonitoringandradoncorrelationsevidenceandpotentialapplications AT lucianosperandio environmentalgammadoseratemonitoringandradoncorrelationsevidenceandpotentialapplications AT ignaziovilardi environmentalgammadoseratemonitoringandradoncorrelationsevidenceandpotentialapplications |