Anthropogenic 129I discharged from European reprocessing plants has widely dispersed in the Nordic waters including the Arctic. Due to the high solubility and long residence time of iodine in seawater, anthropogenic 129I has become an ideal oceanographic tracer for investigating transport pathways and the exchange of water masses.
Marine water samples
A volume of 1 l of each sample was used for the chemical separation of iodine species. Iodide and iodate were separated using anion exchange chromatography. The separated iodine species, as well as total iodine were separated from the water matrix component and all interfering elements by solvent extraction and were then precipitated as AgI for measurement of 129I by accelerator mass spectrometry. The 127I of different species separated from each water sample was measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The analytical results on the concentrations of chemical species of 129I and 127I as well as 129I/127I ratios
Risø National Laboratory, NUK-202, DK-4000, Roskilde, Denmark O.A.Sys – Ocean Atmosphere System GmbH, Hamburg, Germany Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany