Natural tritiated moisture levels in air vary with atmospheric pressure

Natural HTO levels in air at ground level were measured on 100 days during 1979-80. Levels of between 6-140 Bq m-3 of air were observed and found to have a correlation with atmospheric pressure. Lithium chloride was used to absorb moisture, which was then recovered by distillation with xylene prior to liquid scintillation counting using a Triton X-100 cocktail. HTO in the air of a reactor hall and HTO in seawater were also measured by this method.