Decay/ingrowth uncertainty correction of (210)Po/(210)Pb in seawater.

Due to increasing application of (210)Po/(210)Pb in studying particle dynamics, a consistent procedure and calculation to derive accurate and precise result of (210)Po and (210)Pb in seawater should be proposed in the framework of intercalibration by GEOTRACES. The associated uncertainty of radioactivity, which is a significant component of data report, plays a vital role in intercomparison and should be well evaluated. Although measurement uncertainty of laboratory result was well defined in ISO standards and IAEA technical documents, the decay/ingrowth uncertainty correction from laboratory result to in-situ result was less studied. It was demonstrated that the relative uncertainty of in-situ (210)Pb activity was independent of elapsed time and equal to relative uncertainty of laboratory measuring (210)Po activity at second spontaneous deposition date. The relative uncertainty of in-situ (210)Po activity decreases with in-situ activity ratio of (210)Po to (210)Pb and increases with elapsed time between sampling date and separation date, relative uncertainty of laboratory measuring (210)Po activity at first spontaneous deposition date and relative uncertainty of in-situ (210)Pb activity. It was more important to improve precision of (210)Po at first spontaneous deposition date than that of (210)Po at second spontaneous deposition date. To obtain a desirable relative uncertainty of in-situ (210)Po activity, the maximum allowing elapsed time for (210)Po, which was important for sampling strategy making and quality assurance, was calculated by in-situ activity ratio of (210)Po to (210)Pb and precision of analytical method for (210)Po. The methodology of decay/ingrowth uncertainty correction could also be applied for other radionuclide pairs ((234)Th/(238)U, (90)Y/(90)Sr, (210)Bi/(210)Pb), sample matrixes (aerosols), and disciplines.