Interesting quote from one of the UCB'ers....
This is regarding what UCB is able to detect with their rooftop radiation monitoring. I'm wondering if the BRAWM team has made modifications since this was stated in an article on 3/19:
"...In fact, he emphasizes, to date the small rooftop air-radioactivity sampling system that his students have set up on campus has detected nothing.
That’s not surprising, he adds, since it filters less than a cubic meter of air per day. His group would need to concentrate particles from a much bigger volume, he says, if they’re to have any hope of detecting evidence of very diffuse pollution."
Would this explain why other testing entities have found things when the BRAWM team hasn't? Or perhaps this old interview downplays what you guys are currently able to do, in terms of the rooftop monitoring?
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/71431/title/Science_%2B_the_P...
Statement was accurate on 3/19
On 3/16, before we had a good idea of how much air we would need to sample in order to see anything isotopes, we had set up three small pumps on the roof, called Air sampling system A. The original data are still posted at the bottom of the air sampling page.
We quickly realized that the airflow was too small to see anything, so we got a high-horsepower vacuum and set up Air sampling system B, which we still are using. The airflow is much larger — we went up from about 1 cubic meter per day to 3,800 cubic meters per day. This greatly increased our sensitivity and has allowed us to make the air detections we are making.
This system started collecting on the evening of 3/18, and the first filter was switched out on the evening of 3/19. That first measurement wasn't reported until 3/24, since we needed a few days to count the spectrum and calibrate the new testing setup. So Prof. Morse's statements are completely accurate for that article written on 3/19.
Mark [BRAWM Team Member]
thank you so much
I seem to recall some mention of this, but not in enough detail to put the pieces together. (And now, didn't go and look at the air volume, that probably would have been to simple.)
Thanks for the explanation!
Did you happen to notice the
Did you happen to notice the column titled "Air Volume" in the chart?