The Relationship Between Stratospheric Circulation Patterns and Radioactive Debris in Early 1963

Abstract

The large scale atmospheric nuclear testing in 1961 and 1962 afforded the opportunity of observing changes in the distribution of radioactivity and its relationship to stratospheric circulation patterns. Air-craft observations in early 1963 from 15 to 21 km over the Northern Hemisphere and balloon observations to 30 km at 31N together with 50-mb constant pressure charts suggest that most of the debris injected into the polar stratosphere during November-December 1962 was confined to a relatively small volume north of 70N. This debris did not appreciably affect the zone south of 70N until February 1963 when the circumpolar vortex split into two cyclonic cells and moved southward, one cell over Europe, the other over Canada and the United States. This contaminant was then observed as far south as 25N. An anticyclone which moved over Alaska during February 1963 had different radioactivity characteristics than did the polar vortex. These well-defined large-scale eddies maintained their identity until May 1963 when the stratospheric distribution of radioactivity became more homogeneous.