CHEMICAL STATE OF TRITIUM IN THE ATMOSPHERE
ee
4
m
ee
e
ee
HYDROGEN DATA
e, Bainbridge et al.!
—
2f-
ee
e
145
eee
METHANE DATA
mw, Bishop et al.é
—_
a, Faltings and Harteck?
e, Bainbridge et al.!
gv, Rowland and Fireman?
o, Bainbridge (quoted by Morte/!)?
7
oO, Grosse et al.4
~
©, Begemann and Friedman®
10° }—
—
—
8 —
, —
T/H IN H,
™
_]
—_
+
—~|
|
4 Tt
|
T/H IN CH,
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
Lt ude
TRITIUM UNITS
=
T/H IN Cry
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
10? -—
YEAR
1948
1
o|
1950
|
tT
1952
1954
|
cE
1956
—
dE
1958
1960
1962
1964
Fig, 1—Tritium concentration in hydrogen and methane.
data of Rowland and Fireman? and Grosse et al.* tend to support the
idea of an increase. Since the report of Bishop et al.® that there is a
significant tritium level in methane in the atmosphere, a variety of
proposals concerning the mechanism of the incorporation of tritium
into methane have been advanced. Some of the proposals are based on
the assumption that the tritium becomes incorporated in the methane
during a nuclear explosion or by reactions occurring in the atmosphere
under ordinary conditions. Martell’ has discussed the various proposals and offered a mechanism based on the incorporation of HT into
methane through radical reactions initiated by energy released by elec-
tric discharges, such as lightning, etc.
The rate of the T/H increase in southern-hemisphere methane is
consistent with a source in the northern troposphere which does not
inject all the tritium at a single time.°