• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.14-18
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• 2012

Rn-222 was used as a natural radioactive isotope tracer to evaluate non-aqueous phase liquid(NAPL) contaminated soil and aquifer. In the case of soil sample, Rn-222 concentration was inversely decreased with diesel concentration in the granite soil sample and it was decreased about 30% at the 13% diesel contaminated soil. For evaluating trichloroethylene (TCE) contaminated aquifer, the natural radioisotope Rn-222 was used as naturally occurring partitioning tracer for the approximate localization and semiquantitative assessment of the TCE source zone. Rn-222 was analyzed for the estimation of TCE contamination ranges of the acquifer in the contaminated site at Wonju in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.23-36
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• 2000

Bottom sea waters in eight stations including from inner bay to outer bay to understand the importance of the submarine groundwater discharge for the environmental assessment of Chinhae Bay was collected in August 1999 and January 2000. Generally, /sup 222/Rn is very useful tracer to assess the submarine groundwater discharge because it is 2-4 orders of magnitude more concentrated in groundwater compared to surface water. The /sup 222/Rn activities ranged between about 33 to 182 dpm/100kg within the bay. Higher activities more than 100 dpm/100kg were found at the inner bay. The /sup 226/Ra activities, its parent, however, were little different between stations. /sup 222/Rn activities at the same station varied with season. It suggests that the major source of /sup 222/Rn is not from the bottom sediment, but from the change of submarine groundwater discharge by precipitation. The contents of Cl/sup -/ and SO/sub 4//sup 2-/ in the groundwater of Wonjeon-ri were very high as 1,312 and 369 ppm, respectively, indicating that this groundwater along the Chinhae coast was affected by seawater. Therefore, the submarine groundwater in the inner Bay may discharge to the overlying water. It indicates that these submarine groundwater discharges may play an important role as another important source of nutrients in the Chinhae Bay, because groundwater around the Chinhae Bay showed high concentration of dissolved inorganic nutrients (average , nitrate>174 μM, silicate>262 μM). Therefore, further studies are required to assess the contribution by the submarine groundwater discharge in the biogeochemical processes of the Chinhae Bay.

• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2008

Over a period of 5 days between August 12 and 17, 2005, we performed a gas exchange experiment using the dual tracer method in a tidal coastal ocean located off the southern coast of Korea. The gas exchange rate was determined from temporal changes in the ratio of $^3He$ to $SF_6$ measured daily in the surface mixed layer. The measured gas exchange rate($k_{CO_2}$), normalized to a Schmidt number of 600 for $CO_2$ in fresh water at $20^{\circ}C$, was approximately $5.0\;cm\;h^{-1}$ at a mean wind speed of $3.9\;ms^{-1}$ during the study period. This value is significantly less than those obtained from floating chamber-based experiments performed previously in estuarine environments, but is similar in magnitude to values obtained using the dual tracer method in river and tidal coastal waters and values predicted on the basis of the relationship between the gas exchange rate and wind speed (Wanninkhof 1992), which is generally applicable to the open ocean. Our result is also consistent with the relationship of Raymond and Cole (2001), which was derived from experiments carried out in estuarine environments using $^{222}Rn$ and chlorofluorocarbons along with measurements undertaken in the Hudson River, Canada, using $SF_6$ and $^3He$. Our results indicate that tidal action in a microtidal region did not discernibly enhance the measured $k_{CO_2}$ value.