Estimates of the magnitude of wind-caused particle entrainment to the atmosphere from natural surfaces are needed, for example, as inputs to impact assessments for environmental and human health hazards associ-ated with normal and accidental operations of the nuclear industry. An experiment using a supermicron inert tracer and a portable wind stress generator was designed to measure two parameters of interest: the resuspension rate and the weathering rate. The method used was to deposit a known surface concentration and sample air mass loadings for a variety of natural surfaces. Samples from each surface were matched for similar characteristics of wind stress, surface moisture, time since deposition of the tracer, and degree of weathering.
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