Measurements of surface air 7 Be concentrations in Saudi Arabia.

The main objective of this study is to identify the atmospheric ⁷ Be concentrations in 130 surface air samples collected from three stations located in Riyadh, Haql and Khafji cities in Saudi Arabia between November 2012 and April 2014. Monthly variations as well as seasonal patterns of ⁷ Be were studied using a medium-volume air sampler and a gamma spectroscopy system equipped with a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. ⁷ Be exhibited one maximum specific activity in summer and one minimum in winter with average monthly concentrations of 12.4 ± 0.9, 15.4 ± 1.2, and 18.0 ± 1.3 mBq m ^-3 in Riyadh, Haql and Khafji, respectively. Overall, the average ⁷ Be concentration in the three stations was 12.9 ± 1.0 mBq m ^-3 , whereas the maximum value of 29.5 mBq m ^-3 was registered in Khafji city in August 2013. Besides ⁷ Be, measurements indicate observations of ^{4 0}  K, ¹³⁷ Cs, ²²⁶ Ra radionuclides in surface air samples collected from the three stations. ^{4 0}  K showed measurable concentrations, whereas the concentrations of ¹³⁷ Cs and ²²⁶ Ra were only detected in a limited number of samples.
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