Radium and radon in massive ice, groundwater, seawater, and sediments in the Northwest Territories, Canada, 2019

Rapid warming in the Arctic is degrading permafrost and massive ice deposits, which releases solutes previously trapped in ice and frozen soils into groundwater, rivers, and the coastal ocean. Radium (Ra) and radon (Rn) isotopes are enriched in groundwaters and may therefore have utility as tracers for the delivery of permafrost-derived solutes to the ocean, particularly if massive ice- or permafrost- derived meltwaters have a distinct isotopic ratio. Radioactive (radium, radon) and stable (oxygen-18) isotopes were measured in massive ice, permafrost, groundwater, surface waters, and sediments on Tuktoyaktuk Island and Peninsula Point in the Northwest Territories, Canada, with the goal of identifying the isotopic signature of the massive ice endmember. To our knowledge, this is the first dataset that reports radium and radon activities in massive ice deposits.