Atmospheric 210Pb changes during monsoon in east and west coast of Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

Abstract. 210 Pb is widely used as an atmospheric tracer as its parent, 222 Rn is continuously produced in the atmosphere from soil emanation. This study was conducted to observe the changes of 210 Pb activity based on temporal and spatial factor using PM 10 samples. PM 10 were sampled by Malaysian Meteorological Department in four station consist of two station from both east and west coast of Peninsular Malaysia in 2007. Activity level of 210 Pb was determined using the Tennelec XLB-5 Gross Alpha-Beta Counter, Canberra, after the ingrowth of 210 Pb by the outgrowth of 210 Bi. Basically, the analysed result showed that three to four significant peaks during northeast monsoon, southwest monsoon and intermonsoon. For east coast which comprises Kuantan and Mersing stations, the highest 210 Pb activity in Kuantan was in April and June with 45.73 ± 3.66 mBq/kg and 48.20 ± 3.33 mBq/kg, respectively. While in Mersing, 210 Pb activity showed the highest in April and July with 45.77 ± 2.67 mBq/kg and 44.21 ± 2.42 mBq/kg, respectively. As for the west coast, it comprises Setiawan and Chuping stations. Setiawan station showed the highest 210 Pb activity in October and July with 48.90 ± 2.52 mBq/kg and 44.09 ± 2.34 mBq/kg, respectively. Chuping showed the highest 210 Pb activity in March and October with 39.96 ± 1.94 mBq/kg and 14.98 ± 0.80 mBq/kg, respectively. It shows that 210 Pb activity in Chuping is much lower than in Setiawan because of its location is in a rural area. This study showed that during southwest monsoon from May to September, it clearly showed that 210 Pb activity is higher in west coast than in east coast as wind sources come from southwest of Peninsular Malaysia.

Spatial Distribution of Total 210Pb in the Marine Sediment of Peninsular Malaysia: Radioactivity Level Variations in The Sunda Shelf Seas

“…There are only a few studies conducted on or associated with natural radionuclide in this marine region such as by (Alam et al 2015; Che Abd Rahim et al 2006;Johari and Mohamed 2014)]. The latest research relating to 210 Pb and its progeny, 210 Po by (Sabuti and Mohamed 2015) stated that there is a lack of information on the transport of these radionuclides from the atmosphere to seawater and eventually to the sediments of the Malaysian Sea.…”