Do the Earth Tides have an Influence on Short-Term Variations in Radon Concentration?
I. Barnet, J. Prochzka and L. Skalsk The short term (diurnal) indoor radon variations are often explained as a result of temperature and air pressure changes inside a dwelling (the so-called stack effect). The observations of indoor and soil gas radon variations related to the temperature and pressure variations in a test dwelling at Lipov, Northern Bohemia, have not proved the expected correlation between the radon and climatic parameters. The stack effect was clearly observed at the beginning of the four week cycles, when the indoor temperature growth was obvious. However, the indoor radon variations were of the same range or higher than at the beginning of the cycles during the whole week cycles, even when the temperature changes were of the 1-3oC range. A theory is therefore presented, supported by the known fluctuations of the groundwater level caused by the Earth tides, and the widely observed free air radon variations. According to this theory, the Earth tides lead to the compre
