Radiological and elemental composition of cryoconite and glacier mice from Vatnajökull, Iceland

Cryoconite has been demonstrated to be an efficient accumulator of some classes of contaminants on glaciers in both mountain and polar environments, however the accumulation of contaminants in cryoconite in Iceland has received very little attention to date. To understand the spatial variability of natural and anthropogenic fallout radionuclides and metals on glaciers in Iceland, we present the first study of this region including both cryoconite from three glaciers: Virkisjökull; Skaftafellsjökull; and Falljökull, together with moss balls ('glacier mice') from Falljökull. The cryoconite samples and glacier mice were analysed using XRF spectrometry to assess their elemental composition and gamma spectrometry to identify, and quantify, fallout radionuclides, primarily