Temporal variation of thoron decay product concentration in the atmosphere and comparison with radon decay product concentration.

Seasonal and long-term variation of the airborne 212Pb concentration, representative of the equilibrium equivalent concentration of thoron decay products (EECRn220), was investigated from 1989 through 1996 at a semi-natural location in southern Germany. Continuous measurement yielded a long-term average concentration of 0.082 Bq m-3, while daily mean concentrations varied from < or = 0.01 to 0.34 Bq m-3. An average annual effective dose of 1.4 mSv due to outdoor thoron progeny concentration was estimated. This is about 2% of the dose due to the average short-lived radon progeny concentration (EECRn222) of 8.4 Bq m-3 measured for this location in the same period. In most years the seasonal pattern of 212Pb activity concentration in the atmosphere is characterized by two maxima: the first in May and the second one in September. Low concentrations are observed from November through February of each year. This is in contrast to the behaviour of the short-lived 222Rn progeny which exhibit enhanced concentrations exactly during these months. The most probable reason for the different temporal behaviour of 212Pb is the extremely reduced flux of thoron gas from the ground during the winter months.