Willis Resilience Expedition of the deposition rate of Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, across Antarctica. The relatively short half-life of Tritium means it can be used to date snow and ice up to around 150 years old. The data can then be used to better understand the global water cycle, which is intrinsically linked to changes in climate. This will be the first large-scale study of Tritium in Antarctica since Tritium returned to normal levels following the spike caused by thermonuclear tests in the 1960s. The samples will be sent to GNS Science, a New Zealand Crown Research Institute, for analysis. Once
Hydrogen isotope biogeochemistry as a relatively weak beta reaction, so the radioactivity cannot permeate skin. Tritium is thus only hazardous if directly ingested or inhaled. Protium is a spin 1/2 subatomic particle and is therefore a fermion. Other fermions include neutrons, electrons, and the radioactive isotope tritium. Fermions are governed by Pauli's exclusion principle, where no two particles can have the same quantum number. However, bosons like deuterium and photons, are not bound by exclusion and multiple particles can occupy the same energy state. This fundamental difference in H and H manifests in many physical properties. Integer spin particles like deuterium follow Bose-Einstein