Investigation of background radiation levels and environmental radioactivity around Bharati Station, Larsemann Hills in east Antarctica-an overview

Study on the measurement of background radiation level in and around Bharati station, Larsemann Hills region of East Antarctica was taken up using different types of detectors. The radiation levels due to cosmogenic (especially neutron) and terrestrial origin (gamma and neutron) and natural radioactivity due to presence of primordial radionuclide in the samples of soil, rock, lake water, ice and air were measured. The data on radionuclide activities of soil and lake water are presented pictorially using surfer plot. The study was further extended to the in-situ measurement of Radon/Thoron concentration in soil pores. Measurement of gross alpha and beta activity in air samples was also carried out. These studies were conducted during several Indian Scientific Expeditions to Antarctica (ISEA) (32nd to 36th) for the period from 2012 to 2017. Some of the data generated during the above mentioned expeditions are already published previously and hence mentioned very briefly in the text whereas the unpublished data are presented and discussed in this article for the first time.