Inter-comparison of radon measurements from a commercial betaattenuation monitor and ANSTO dual flow loop monitor

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorRiley, MLen_AU
dc.contributor.authorChambers, SDen_AU
dc.contributor.authorWilliams, AGen_AU
dc.date.accessioned2025-10-03T04:24:07Zen_AU
dc.date.available2025-10-03T04:24:07Zen_AU
dc.date.issued2023-08-24en_AU
dc.date.statistics2025-08-26en_AU
dc.description.abstractRadon (Rn) is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, noble gas that decays rapidly. It’s most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of around 3.8 days. Atmospheric radon measurements play an important role in understanding our atmospheric environments. Naturally occurring radon can be used as an atmospheric tracer for airmass tracking, to assist in modelling boundary layer development, and is important for understanding background radiation levels and personal exposure to natural radiation. The daughter products from radon decay also play an important role when measuring fine particle pollution using beta-attenuation monitors (BAM). Beta radiation from the 222Rn decay chain interferes with BAM measurements of fine particles; thus, some BAMs incorporate radon measurements into their sampling systems. BAMs are ubiquitous in air quality monitoring networks globally and present a hitherto unexplored source of dense, continuous radon measurements. In this paper, we compare in situ real world 222Rn measurements from a high quality ANSTO dual flow loop, dual filter radon detector, and the radon measurements made by a commercial BAM instrument (Thermo 5014i). We find strong correlations between systems for hourly measurements (R2 = 0.91), daily means (R2 = 0.95), hour of day (R2 = 0.72–0.94), and by month (R2 = 0.83–0.94). The BAM underestimates radon by 22–39%; however, the linear response of the BAM measurements implies that they could be corrected to reflect the ANSTO standard measurements. Regardless, the radon measurements from BAMs could be used with correction to estimate local mixed layer development. Though only a 12-month study at a single location, our results suggest that radon measurements from BAMs can complement more robust measurements from standard monitors, augment radon measurements across broad regions of the world, and provide useful information for studies using radon as a tracer, particularly for boundary layer development and airmass identification. © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.en_AU
dc.identifier.articlenumber1333en_AU
dc.identifier.citationRiley, M. L., Chambers, S. D., & Williams, A. G. (2023). Inter-comparison of radon measurements from a commercial beta-Attenuation monitor and ANSTO dual flow loop monitor. Atmosphere, 14(9), 1333. doi:10.3390/atmos14091333en_AU
dc.identifier.issn0004-6973en_AU
dc.identifier.issn2073-4433en_AU
dc.identifier.issue9en_AU
dc.identifier.journaltitleAtmosphereen_AU
dc.identifier.pagination1333en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14091333en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttps://apo.ansto.gov.au/handle/10238/16595en_AU
dc.identifier.volume14en_AU
dc.languageEnglishen_AU
dc.language.isoenen_AU
dc.publisherMDPIen_AU
dc.subjectRadonen_AU
dc.subjectANSTOen_AU
dc.subjectAtmosphericsen_AU
dc.subjectMitigationen_AU
dc.subjectAir qualityen_AU
dc.subjectMonitoringen_AU
dc.subjectGasesen_AU
dc.subjectAttenuationen_AU
dc.titleInter-comparison of radon measurements from a commercial betaattenuation monitor and ANSTO dual flow loop monitoren_AU
dc.typeJournal Articleen_AU
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
atmosphere-14-01333.pdf
Size:
3.95 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.66 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
Collections
Journal Articles