Cæsium-137 in the Seas off the Cape of Good Hope.

SCHROEDER, B. W.; CHERRY, R. D.

MEASUREMENTS of fall-out cæsium-137 in surface sea-water in the northern hemisphere have been reported by two groups of workers1,2. With the view of obtaining an estimate of the fall-out contamination in the southern oceans, a programme of cæsium-137 determination in the waters off the Cape of Good Hope was begun in July 1961 in collaboration with the Oceanography Department of this University. Samples were collected by the University of Cape Town research vessel, the John D. Gilchrist, and five had been obtained by the middle of September 1961. At this stage the recent series of Russian nuclear tests was in progress, and it was decided to extend the programme on a semi-permanent basis. This communication provides an estimate (based unfortunately on a limited number of samples) of the cæsium-137 level in sea-water in southern latitudes due to earlier (pre-1961) nuclear explosions.

Nature, 1962, Vol 194, Issue 4829, p669

0028-0836

Academic Journal

10.1038/194669a0