A decade of 7Be and 210Pb activity in surface aerosols measured over the Western Iberian Peninsula

This work presents the analysis of 7Be and 210Pb continuously measured near Lisbon, Portugal, and their correlation with meteorological parameters, between 2001 and 2010. The values are compared against other similar works over the Iberian Peninsula and Eastern Mediterranean countries. Relative Humidity shows the strongest correlation sign, negative. Higher 7Be activity was found in the years 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2009 being the year 2001 a singular one regarding extremes. The use of 7Be as a stratospheric tracer can be interesting to enhance the radionuclide sample frequency due to the meso to local scale of this phenomenon.

► A decadal of 7Be and 210Pb activity are analysed over Lisbon Portugal. ► The mean value for entire 7Be time series was 4.0 mBq m−3. ► Higher 7Be activity were found in the years 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2009. ► The year 2001 ws a singular one regarding 7Be activity extreme values. ► 7Be activity show negative correlation sign with relative humidity.