Characteristics of tritium, stable isotopes and chemical components in monthly precipitation at Hiroshima, Japan

Abstract This article mainly discusses tritium concentrations in monthly precipitation at Hiroshima City during 2021. The tritium concentrations, which were measured with a low background liquid scintillation counter, fluctuated from 0.16 to 0.78 Bq L−1. Additionally, hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes and ionic species were measured in order to characterize precipitation, and their trends including tritium concentrations were compared with data collected in other regions of Japan in previous studies. Although the results showed the characteristics of precipitation were similar to those observed in the other regions, the tritium concentrations were found to be contrary to behavior expected from the latitude effect and some of the observed ionic components were suggested to be continental in origin. Since these results are not common at other sites in Japan, the tritium concentration in the westernmost region of Honshu, including Hiroshima City, may be influenced by Asian continental influences.