Excess of ²¹⁰polonium activity in the surface urban atmosphere. Part (1) fluctuation of the ²¹⁰Po excess in the air.

The concentrations of (210)Pb, (210)Bi, and (210)Po in the urban atmosphere of Lodz city were measured from February 2010 to May 2010 and from May 2011 to April 2012. The seasonal changes in the activity ratios for (210)Po/(210)Pb and (210)Bi/(210)Pb indicated that the observed fluctuations were independent of the concentration of tropospheric (210)Pb and its decay products, particularly (210)Po. A simple calculation method was proposed for the estimation of the excess of (210)Po in urban aerosols in relation to the fraction of its activity formed from (210)Pb. On the basis of the results obtained, it was concluded that a substantial part of the (210)Po in urban air did not come from the decay of atmospheric (222)Rn, but rather it was from artificial sources. The highest levels of measured total (210)Po activity were observed during the winter period. This observation suggests that the main source of (210)Po in the investigated region could be related to anthropogenic emissions from domestic heating systems and local coal power plants, rather than from other sources, such as soil resuspension or stratospheric air intrusion as usually suggested in the literature.