How reliable are process-based <sup>222</sup>radon emission  maps? Results from an atmospheric  <sup>222</sup>radon inversion in Europe

Maier, Fabian; Falge, Eva; Gachkivskyi, Maksym; Henne, Stephan; Karstens, Ute; Kikaj, Dafina; Levin, Ingeborg; Manning, Alistair; Rödenbeck, Christian; Gerbig, Christoph

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12779-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 19

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12779-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12779-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 19

Research article

|

14 Oct 2025

Research article |

| 14 Oct 2025

How reliable are process-based ²²²radon emission maps? Results from an atmospheric ²²²radon inversion in Europe

Fabian Maier, Eva Falge, Maksym Gachkivskyi, Stephan Henne, Ute Karstens, Dafina Kikaj, Ingeborg Levin, Alistair Manning, Christian Rödenbeck, and Christoph Gerbig

Data sets

Radon flux estimates for central Europe 2021 Fabian Maier https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15919530

traceRadon daily radon flux map for Europe 2021 (based on GLDAS-Noah v2.1 soil moisture) Ute Karstens and Ingeborg Levin https://hdl.handle.net/11676/JoDR653JxQuqLvEwzqI2kdMw

traceRadon daily radon flux map for Europe 2021 (based on ERA5-Land soil moisture) Ute Karstens and Ingeborg Levin https://hdl.handle.net/11676/NvC7D-BVXlnHtFBdUSKpNVHT

HRM Radon Data Germany L2 final data Bernd Fischer et al. https://doi.org/10.18160/Q2M8-B1HJ

Atmospheric trace gas observations from the UK Deriving Emissions linked to Climate Change (DECC) Network and associated data - Version 24.09 Simon O'Doherty et al. https://doi.org/10.5285/bd7164851bcc491b912f9d650fcf7981

Short summary

The radioactive noble gas radon (²²²Rn) is a suitable natural tracer for atmospheric transport and mixing processes that can be used to validate and calibrate atmospheric transport models. However, this requires accurate estimates of the ²²²Rn flux from the soil into the atmosphere. In our study, we evaluate the reliability of process-based ²²²Rn flux maps for Europe using a ²²²Rn inversion. Our inversion results can give some indications on how to improve the process-based ²²²Rn flux maps.

How reliable are process-based 222radon emission maps? Results from an atmospheric 222radon inversion in Europe

Data sets

How reliable are process-based ²²²radon emission maps? Results from an atmospheric ²²²radon inversion in Europe