A new look at old data – a simple model for estimating deposition based on a statistical reassessment of global fallout data

Atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons began in 1945 and came largely to an end in 1963. Extensive monitoring was done on the global fallout from these tests. The Environmental Measurements Laboratory (EML) in the US had a global network as well as the UK Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE / Harwell). There were also comprehensive national networks such as operated by the Risø National Laboratory in Denmark. Early analysis of the data showed correlation of deposition with precipitation. Global compilations of deposition data, such as by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), showed clearly an uneven distribution with latitude. Subsequently this has in some cases been used as a deposition model, even though the original papers warn against this and recommend that precipitation should rather be used to model the deposition variability in a region.