The inflow of polonium (210)Po from Vistula river catchments area

The activities of polonium (210)Po in Vistula unfiltered water samples, collected from November 2002 to November 2003, were measured using the alpha spectrometry. In winter, the highest concentration of (210)Po was in Vistula river water from Torun (2.72 +/- 0.04 Bq x m(-3)) and from the Wieprz river (5.46 +/- 0.07 Bq x m(-3) [Bequerel per cubic metre]), and the lowest was in water from Nida river (0.59 +/- 0.02 Bq x m(-3)). During spring, the highest concentration of (210)Po was observed in Vistula water collected in Deblin (5.98 +/- 0.03 Bq x m(-3)) and the lowest in water from the Narew river (1.20 +/- 0.12 Bq x m(-3)). In summer, the highest concentration of (210)Po was in Nogat river water collected in Malbork (3.18 +/- 0.04 Bq x m(-3)) and the Bzura river (5.30 +/- 0.02 Bq x m(-3)), the lowest in Wieprz river (0.49 +/- 0.09 Bq x m(-3)) and Vistula river water from Kraków (1.44 +/- 0.05 Bq x m(-3)). In autumn, the highest (210)Po concentration was in Bzura river (8.93 +/- 0.03 Bq x m(-3)), the lowest in Vistula water from Grudziadz (1.51 +/- 0.04 Bq x m(-3)), and Toruń (1.89 +/- 0.05 Bq x m(-3)). The highest quantity of (210)Po was transported from Vistula catchments area to the Baltic Sea in spring and the lowest in summer. Annually, the southern Baltic Sea is enriched by about 73.7 GBq (210)Po (with Leniwka and Nogat rivers), with 71.6 GBq going to Gdańsk Bay and 2.1 GBq to Vistula Lagoon. The highest surface (210)Po runoff was observed in spring (to 1370 kBq x km(-2) x quarter(-1) for Dunajec catchment's area), the lowest in summer (for Nida catchment's area to 100 kBq x km(-2) x quarter(-1)).