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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • bomb radiocarbon
  • global carbon cycle
  • atmospheric trace gas inversions

Index Terms

  • Biogeosciences: Biosphere/atmosphere interactions
  • Biogeosciences: Pollution: urban, regional and global
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere: constituent transport and chemistry

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 34, L02816, 6 PP., 2007
doi:10.1029/2006GL027032

Regional patterns of radiocarbon and fossil fuel-derived CO2 in surface air across North America

Diana Y. Hsueh

Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California, USA

Nir Y. Krakauer

Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

James T. Randerson

Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California, USA

Xiaomei Xu

Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California, USA

Susan E. Trumbore

Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California, USA

John R. Southon

Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California, USA

Radiocarbon levels in annual plants provide a means to map out regional and continental-scale fossil fuel plumes in surface air. We collected corn (Zea mays) across North America during the summer of 2004. Plants from mountain regions of western North America showed the smallest influence of fossil fuel-derived CO2 with a mean Δ14C of 66.3‰ ±1.7‰. Plants from eastern North America and from the Ohio-Maryland region showed a larger fossil fuel influence with a mean Δ14C of 58.8‰ ± 3.9‰ and 55.2‰ ± 2.3‰, respectively, corresponding to 2.7 ppm ± 1.5 ppm and 4.3 ppm ± 1.0 ppm of added fossil fuel CO2 relative to the mountain west. A model–data comparison suggests that surveys of annual plant Δ14C can provide a useful test of atmospheric mixing in transport models that are used to estimate the spatial distribution of carbon sources and sinks.

Received 31 May 2006; accepted 11 December 2006; published 23 January 2007.

Citation: Hsueh, D. Y., N. Y. Krakauer, J. T. Randerson, X. Xu, S. E. Trumbore, and J. R. Southon (2007), Regional patterns of radiocarbon and fossil fuel-derived CO2 in surface air across North America, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L02816, doi:10.1029/2006GL027032.

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