Articles | Volume 22, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5607-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5607-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
16 Oct 2025
Research article |
| 16 Oct 2025
| 16 Oct 2025
Quantifying new versus old aerosol deposition in forest canopies: throughfall mass balance with fallout radionuclide chronometry
Joshua D. Landis
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Dartmouth College, 19 Fayerweather Hill Road, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
Related authors
Joshua D. Landis
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 4821–4833, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4821-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4821-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding rates of environmental change is critical to human and ecological health but is difficult when the processes are too slow or too small to observe directly. To overcome this limitation, we can use natural radioactive elements as virtual "clocks" to measure change. Here we describe a large number of measurements that have been used to develop soils as clocks or chronometers of change to atmospheric carbon and mercury (Hg) cycles.
Joshua D. Landis
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 4821–4833, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4821-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4821-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding rates of environmental change is critical to human and ecological health but is difficult when the processes are too slow or too small to observe directly. To overcome this limitation, we can use natural radioactive elements as virtual "clocks" to measure change. Here we describe a large number of measurements that have been used to develop soils as clocks or chronometers of change to atmospheric carbon and mercury (Hg) cycles.
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Short summary
Particulate matter (PM) in the atmosphere contains nutrients and toxins that impact the health of both humans and ecosystems. Understanding how PM is deposited to land from the atmosphere is challenging, however, due to its very small size and complex composition. Here, we develop a new method using natural radioactive elements to better measure how much PM is deposited, as well as the timescales over which it recirculates between the atmosphere and land.
Particulate matter (PM) in the atmosphere contains nutrients and toxins that impact the health...
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