This cross-section of the Atlantic between Greenland and Portugal shows how many millions of iodine atoms are found in one kilogram of water. | Image: M. Castrillejo et al. (2022)

Since the 1960s, the reprocessing of nuclear material has released tiny amounts of radioactive iodine into the North-East Atlantic Ocean. Environmental researchers at ETH Zurich are now making use of this. By determining the distribution of this iodine (yellow = 50x107, dark blue = 5x107 atoms/kg water) they can map ocean currents and climate-related changes. The samples (shown here as black dots) were collected by research vessels between Greenland and the Iberian Peninsula from 2017 to 2019.

M. Castrillejo et al.: Rapidly Increasing Artificial Iodine Highlights Pathways of Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water and Labrador Sea Water. Frontiers in Marine Science (2022)

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