Use of Dissolved Helium as an Environmental Water Tracer
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 5
Abstract
This study deals with the development, calibration, and testing of an automated technology for using helium as a water tracer in continuous real-time monitoring. The instrument combines a gas extraction system and a helium mass spectrometer. The technology was tested in laboratory pipe, open-water, and porous- media experiments, and the results were used to test helium breakthrough curves against those for salinity expressed by electrical conductivity. The instrument promptly responds to concentration changes. In general, accurate results were obtained for first arrival times and peaks of solutes, as well as for the dispersive characteristics of the breakthrough curves. The accuracy of the elution curves needs some improvement due to limitations of the helium extraction system. In addition, the developed method is sensitive to the water flow rate and nitrogen pressure used in extracting helium from the solution. These issues can be addressed through calibration. Potential improvements are possible through the use of more precise helium concentration quantification equipment and through enhancement of the extraction method. The success of the methodology makes helium an attractive tracer for use near drinking water sources, in environmentally sensitive areas such as wetlands and fish farms, and near recreational or other areas where a esthetics are a concern.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the US Geological Survey (UNSPECIFIEDWRRIP Grant No. 2004HI55B). The writers are indebted to Dr. Donald M. Thomas, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii, for suggesting the approach that has led to the development of the current technology. This is contributed paper CP-2008-03 of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu.
References
Carter, R. C., Kaufman, W. J., Orlob, G. T., and Todd, D. K. (1959). “Helium as a ground-water tracer.” J. Geophys. Res., 64(12), 2433–2439.
Clark, J. F., Schlosser, P., Stute, M., and Simpson, H. (1996). “ tracer release experiment: A new method of determining longitudinal dispersion coefficients in large rivers.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 30(5), 1527–1532.
Gupta, S. K., Lau, L. S., and Moravick, P. S. (1994). “Ground-water tracing with injected helium.” Ground Water, 32(1), 96–102.
Ho, D. T., Schlosser, P., and Caplow, T. (2002). “Determination of longitudinal dispersion coefficient and net advection in the tidal Hudson River with a large-scale, high resolution tracer release experiment.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 36(15), 3234–3241.
Jardine, P. M., Sanford, W. E., Gwo, J. P., Reedy, O. C., Hicks, D. S., Riggs, J. S., and Bailey, W. B. (1999). “Quantifying diffusive mass transfer in fractured shale bedrock.” Water Resour. Res., 35(7), 2015–2030.
Sanford, W. E., Shropshire, R. G., and Solomon, D. K. (1996). “Dissolved gas tracers in groundwater: Simplified injection, sampling, and analysis.” Water Resour. Res., 32(6), 1635–1642.
Sugisaki, R. (1961). “Measurement of effective flow velocity of ground water by means of dissolved gases.” Am. J. Sci., 259(2), 144–153.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 12, 2005
Accepted: Jun 18, 2007
Published online: May 1, 2008
Published in print: May 2008
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.