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.

北极地区的快速升温正在加速多年冻土（permafrost）及大型冰体沉积物的退化，此前被封存于冰层与冻结土壤中的溶质随之被释放至地下水、河流及近岸海域。镭（radium, Ra）与氡（radon, Rn）同位素在地下水中富集，因此可作为追踪多年冻土来源溶质向海洋输运的示踪剂，尤其适用于大型冰体或多年冻土融水具备独特同位素比值的研究场景。研究团队在加拿大西北地区图克托亚图克岛与半岛角区域的大型冰体、多年冻土、地下水、地表水及沉积物中，检测了放射性同位素（镭、氡）与稳定同位素（氧-18），旨在明确大型冰体端元的同位素特征。据我们所知，本数据集是首个报道大型冰体沉积物中镭与氡活度的数据集。