Radionuclides as Environmental Tracers

About This Course

This blended learning course will provide students with a multi-dimensional learning experience by combining elements of self-study, in-class discussions and activities, lectures, and an excursion to visit the AMS facilities of ETH Zurich's Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics. Throughout the course, students will gain knowledge and understanding of natural and artificial radionuclides and their detection with AMS technology. Using case studies, they will explore the applications of long-lived radionuclides in various environmental compartments, including oceans, atmosphere, and terrestrial environments. By the end of the course, students will have gained a comprehensive understanding of radionuclides and their applications in different environmental settings.

1. Students will be able to explain the properties and characteristics of different types of radionuclides. They will describe how these radionuclides are utilized as environmental tracers through real-life case studies, covering topics such as understanding past climate changes, ocean currents, and other environmental processes. 2. Students will be able to quantify environmental processes using radionuclides, and critically evaluate the validity and reliability of their research outcomes. They will apply critical thinking to analyze and interpret data, ensuring a thorough understanding of the studied phenomena..

Course Staff

Núria Casacuberta

Núria Casacuberta is currently an Assistant Professor of Physical and Tracer Oceanography at the Environmental Systems Science Department (ETHZ). Her expertise is on the use of natural and artificial radionuclides as tracers to understand physical processes in the ocean. Her main research questions are related to how are the ocean currents are being transported, how fast are the circulation timescales of waters and how much waters are mixing as they are transported along the flow field. This is ultimately important to understand the role of oceans in transporting and storing other substances such as anthropogenic carbon. Her group (TITANICA) is mostly working in the Arctic and Subpolar North Atlantic, but also in the coast off Fukushima (related to the releases of artificial radionuclides after the nuclear accident in 2021).

Caro Welte

Caro Welte has more than ten years of experience in research on small-scale radiocarbon analysis at the interface of analytical strategies and instrumental developments. Her often technical research projects were driven by questions related to paleoclimate and the carbon cycle. In the past three years, she got deeply interested in new ways of teaching with a focus on 21st century skills, such as critical thinking. For this she employs diverse classroom settings, such as workshops, flipped classrooms, and peer-to-peer learning.

Frequently Asked Questions

What web browser should I use?

We recommend you to use Chrome or Safari. In principle, the Open edX platform should work with current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari. We experienced that some videos cannot be viewed on Firefox and Edge.

See our list of supported browsers for the most up-to-date information.

ETH: RaT Radionuclides as Environmental Tracers