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2016/03/21 at 6:01 pm

Southern Hemisphere Background Report For February 2016.

Station location

http://sccc.org.au/monitoring/Australian-Map.jpg

This short animation of Northern, and Southern Hemisphere air circulation, shows why we can get detections so far south.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh011eAYjAA
Roof down pipe filter design for rainwater testing, http://sccc.org.au/down-pipe-filter-design

Day average chart for Caloundra February 2016

http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Caloundra-local-average-background-radiation-levels-February-2016.jpg
Well, February 2016 had the highest month average since records have been kept here. This was a surprise to say the least considering the wind direction. The wind direction this time of the year usually comes down the East Coast of Australia, from the Northern tropics. Interestingly, most of the late February increases occurred when the wind direction was coming from South or SSE. Equatorial winds this year were drawn South from the Eastern Pacific, and then directed it up the East Coast of Australia. The East Coast of Australia surface wind direction for the later part of February is shown clearly at 2 minutes and 54 seconds into this Suspicious0bserver video.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCujdCaI0dI
Caloundra February month average year comparisons.

2016 – was 41% above the 4 year pre-Fukushima local average.

2015 – was 30% above the 4 year pre-Fukushima local average.

2014 – was 40% above the 4 year pre-Fukushima local average.

2013 – was 39% above the 4 year pre-Fukushima local average.

2012 – was 37% above the 4 year pre-Fukushima local average.

Cairns February 2016 Report – “My previous baseline used to be 0.125. Last month some readings were below the 0.120 mark. There were no extremes, both curves behave in a similar parallel fashion. Yesterday we had high temperatures and inland wind with thunderstorms, that increased the readings.”

Thanks to the Cairn’s station operator for providing this day average Cairns and Caloundra comparison chart. Cairns is red in this comparison chart, and Caloundra is yellow.

http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Cairns-Caloundra-comparison-for-February-2016.jpg
For comparison, long term average background level yearly and monthly charts from 2007 to 2016, can be found here.

http://sccc.org.au/yearly-average-background-radiation-levels
Disclaimer: This is an amateur volunteer run service. Human error can provide incorrect information, and equipment malfunction can produce false readings. Do not rely on, or take action upon information presented here, without further research.

2016/02/28 at 3:47 pm

Southern Hemisphere January 2016 down pipe rain water filter test

Station location

http://sccc.org.au/monitoring/Australian-Map.jpg
This short animation of Northern, and Southern Hemisphere air circulation, shows why we can get detections so far south.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh011eAYjAA
Roof down pipe filter design for rainwater testing,

http://sccc.org.au/down-pipe-filter-design
The background levels here went up significantly in late January 2016. There was 2.47 times as much rainfall in January 2016 (133.6 mm), compared to December 2015 (54mm). Even with the increased rainfall, the amount of Pb-210 captured for January and December in the rain water filter, was approximately the same.

Pb-210 is the end product of radon daughter decay. There was more Beryllium-7 detected in January 2016. This was probably created from spallation in the upper atmosphere, by recent solar storm activity. No detectable Cesium is being detected in the rain water filter tests.

January 2016 rain water test chart

http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Down-pipe-January-paper-filter-030216-TV7-28c-84600-Btext.png
It is important to understand that when you look at a scintillator test chart like the one above, the peak highs can be deceptive.

The Scintillator device used for testing the rain water filter, is less sensitive with increasing isotope energy.

For example the scintillator may have ~50% efficiency near the low energy Pb-210 peak and ~7% efficiency near the mid energy Be-7 peak. So the maths tells us, that more Be-7 was detected than its peak high would indicate!

At best, the above chart is showing what was detected, it does not quantifying the amount.

2016/01/31 at 8:38 pm

I just received the day average comparison chart of Cairns and Caloundra, for January 2016

The January day average peaks at Caloundra were less than those recorded for Cairns, see the Cairns and Caloundra Comparison chart below. Cairns is a lot closer to the equator than Caloundra.

Monitoring Stations Location Map,

http://sccc.org.au/monitoring/Australian-Map.jpg
Cairns January 2016 Report – “Some spikes at the beginning of January associated with very hot weather. The rest of the month stayed fairly flat, close to my baseline of 0.125 uSV/hr.”

Thanks to the Cairn’s station operator for providing this day average Cairns and Caloundra comparison chart. Cairns is red in this comparison chart, and Caloundra is yellow.

http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Cairns-Caloundra-comparison-for-January-2016.jpg

January 2016 Southern Hemisphere Background report (41% above average)

Alert Caloundra 31th January 2016 – The background here has seen a steady increase during January, reaching 64% above average on the 31st January. The 24 hour, 60 second logging chart for the day, showed a significant increase in background levels between 9am to 2.30pm. It was cloudy, but not raining at the time.

24 hour 60 second logging chart for the 31st January 2016

http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Caloundra-24-hour-chart-310116.jpg
Day average chart for January 2016

http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Caloundra-local-average-background-radiation-levels-January-2016.jpg
What the chart colour alert codes mean.

http://sccc.org.au/what-does-each-step-in-the-alert-level-colour-code-mean
Three minutes and 15 second into this Suspicious Observer video weather report, you will see the surface air flow turn down along the East Coast of Australia from the tropics. Generally we see increased background levels at the monitoring station here, in the warmer months, when we get more air flow from the tropics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glnLECyER6k
Long term local background information can be found here,

http://sccc.org.au/archives/2630
Disclaimer: This is an amateur volunteer run service. Human error can provide incorrect information, and equipment malfunction can produce false readings. Do not rely on, or take action upon information presented here, without further research.

BEGINNING 2016

END 2015

2016/01/07 at 3:44 pm

Southern Hemisphere 2015 Year Background Radiation Report.

Summary

2015 – was 18% above the 4 year pre-Fukushima local average.
2014 – was 20% above the 4 year pre-Fukushima local average.
2013 – was 22% above the 4 year pre-Fukushima local average.
2012 – was 21% above the 4 year pre-Fukushima local average.

In 2015 test results indicated some of the increase in November and December local background levels were possibly from increased Southern Hemisphere volcanic activity. Even taking this into account, the data indicates a gradual decline in local background atmospheric detections from the previous year’s peaks, since Fukushima.

Monitoring Station Location Map:

http://sccc.org.au/monitoring/Australian-Map.jpg
This short animation of Northern, and Southern Hemisphere air circulation, shows why we can get atmospheric detections so far south.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh011eAYjAA
I have also conducted a number of local beach sand, seaweed, and Pacific Ocean plankton tests. If any Fukushima Pacific Ocean Cesium contamination has reached this location, it is at levels below the detection sensitivity of the test equipment used here.

The scintillator test equipment used here is way more sensitive than an average Geiger counter, but it is not as sensitive as the very expensive test equipment available to research or university scientists.

Detailed local background level month and year charts from 2007 to 2015, can be found here.

http://sccc.org.au/yearly-average-background-radiation-levels
December 2015 down pipe rain water filter test

The December 2015 down pipe rain water filter test shows the usual Lead Pb-210 and Beryllium Be-7. December 2015 rainfall was 54mm. This is less than the rainfall for November 2015 76mm, but there was more Pb-210 detected in December.

December Rainwater Filter Chart

http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Paper-Towel-Filter-December-020116-TV67-22c-86286-B-text.png
November Rainwater Filter Chart

http://sccc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Down-pipe-November-paper-filter-031215-TV67-22c-84905-B.png
Disclaimer: This is an amateur volunteer run service. Human error can provide incorrect information, and equipment malfunction can produce false readings. Do not rely on, or take action upon information presented here, without further research.

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