This paper presents a compilation of atmospheric radiocarbon for the period 1950–2019, derived from atmospheric CO2 sampling and tree rings from clean-air sites. Following the approach taken by Hua ...et al. (2013), our revised and extended compilation consists of zonal, hemispheric and global radiocarbon (14C) data sets, with monthly data sets for 5 zones (Northern Hemisphere zones 1, 2, and 3, and Southern Hemisphere zones 3 and 1–2). Our new compilation includes smooth curves for zonal data sets that are more suitable for dating applications than the previous approach based on simple averaging. Our new radiocarbon dataset is intended to help facilitate the use of atmospheric bomb 14C in carbon cycle studies and to accommodate increasing demand for accurate dating of recent (post-1950) terrestrial samples.
Monthly mean ¹⁴CO₂ observations at two regional stations in Germany (Schauinsland observatory, Black Forest, and Heidelberg, upper Rhine valley) are compared with free tropospheric background ...measurements at the High Alpine Research Station Jungfraujoch (Swiss Alps) to estimate the regional fossil fuel CO₂ surplus at the regional stations. The long-term mean fossil fuel CO₂ surplus at Schauinsland is 1.31±0.09 ppm while it is 10.96±0.20 ppm in Heidelberg. No significant trend is observed at both sites over the last 20 years. Strong seasonal variations of the fossil fuel CO₂ offsets indicate a strong seasonality of emissions but also of atmospheric dilution of ground level emissions by vertical mixing.
Methane retrievals from the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) instrument onboard ENVISAT provide important information on atmospheric CH4 sources, ...particularly in tropical regions which are poorly monitored by in situ surface observations. Recently, Frankenberg et al. (2008a, 2008b) reported a major revision of SCIAMACHY retrievals due to an update of spectroscopic parameters of water vapor and CH4. Here, we analyze the impact of this revision on global and regional CH4 emissions estimates in 2004, using the TM5‐4DVAR inverse modeling system. Inversions based on the revised SCIAMACHY retrievals yield ∼20% lower tropical emissions compared to the previous retrievals. The new retrievals improve significantly the consistency between observed and assimilated column average mixing ratios and the agreement with independent validation data. Furthermore, the considerable latitudinal and seasonal bias correction of the previous SCIAMACHY retrievals, derived in the TM5‐4DVAR system by simultaneously assimilating high‐accuracy surface measurements, is reduced by a factor of ∼3. The inversions result in significant changes in the spatial patterns of emissions and their seasonality compared to the bottom‐up inventories. Sensitivity tests were done to analyze the robustness of retrieved emissions, revealing some dependence on the applied a priori emission inventories and OH fields. Furthermore, we performed a detailed validation of simulated CH4 mixing ratios using NOAA ship and aircraft profile samples, as well as stratospheric balloon samples, showing overall good agreement. We use the new SCIAMACHY retrievals for a regional analysis of CH4 emissions from South America, Africa, and Asia, exploiting the zooming capability of the TM5 model. This allows a more detailed analysis of spatial emission patterns and better comparison with aircraft profiles and independent regional emission estimates available for South America. Large CH4 emissions are attributed to various wetland regions in tropical South America and Africa, seasonally varying and opposite in phase with CH4 emissions from biomass burning. India, China and South East Asia are characterized by pronounced emissions from rice paddies peaking in the third quarter of the year, in addition to further anthropogenic emissions throughout the year.
Since the 1950s, observations of radiocarbon (14C) in tropospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) have been conducted in both hemispheres, documenting the so-called nuclear “bomb spike” and its transfer into ...the oceans and the terrestrial biosphere, the two compartments permanently exchanging carbon with the atmosphere. Results from the Heidelberg global network of Δ14C-CO2 observations are revisited here with respect to the insights and quantitative constraints they provided on these carbon exchange fluxes. The recent development of global and hemispheric trends of Δ14C-CO2 are further discussed in regard to their suitability to continue providing constraints for 14C-free fossil CO2 emission changes on the global and regional scale.
The Ocean Model Intercomparison Project (OMIP) focuses on the physics and biogeochemistry of the ocean component of Earth system models participating in the sixth phase of the Coupled Model ...Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). OMIP aims to provide standard protocols and diagnostics for ocean models, while offering a forum to promote their common assessment and improvement. It also offers to compare solutions of the same ocean models when forced with reanalysis data (OMIP simulations) vs. when integrated within fully coupled Earth system models (CMIP6). Here we detail simulation protocols and diagnostics for OMIP's biogeochemical and inert chemical tracers. These passive-tracer simulations will be coupled to ocean circulation models, initialized with observational data or output from a model spin-up, and forced by repeating the 1948-2009 surface fluxes of heat, fresh water, and momentum. These so-called OMIP-BGC simulations include three inert chemical tracers (CFC-11, CFC-12, SF subscript 6) and biogeochemical tracers (e.g., dissolved inorganic carbon, carbon isotopes, alkalinity, nutrients, and oxygen). Modelers will use their preferred prognostic BGC model but should follow common guidelines for gas exchange and carbonate chemistry. Simulations include both natural and total carbon tracers. The required forced simulation (omip1) will be initialized with gridded observational climatologies. An optional forced simulation (omip1-spunup) will be initialized instead with BGC fields from a long model spin-up, preferably for 2000 years or more, and forced by repeating the same 62-year meteorological forcing. That optional run will also include abiotic tracers of total dissolved inorganic carbon and radiocarbon, CTabio and 14CTabio, to assess deep-ocean ventilation and distinguish the role of physics vs. biology. These simulations will be forced by observed atmospheric histories of the three inert gases and CO2 as well as carbon isotope ratios of CO2. OMIP-BGC simulation protocols are founded on those from previous phases of the Ocean Carbon-Cycle Model Intercomparison Project. They have been merged and updated to reflect improvements concerning gas exchange, carbonate chemistry, and new data for initial conditions and atmospheric gas histories. Code is provided to facilitate their implementation.
The global radiocarbon cycle of the last 60 years was simulated with the Global Radiocarbon Exploration Model (GRACE). The total radiocarbon production by atmospheric nuclear bomb tests was ...determined using available stratospheric and tropospheric radiocarbon (14C) observations as constraints. To estimate the range of uncertainty in the explosive force of atmospheric nuclear bomb tests and their respective 14C yield factor, we applied different published bomb test compilations. Furthermore, to account for a possible small bias in the available stratospheric excess radiocarbon observations, we tested the different bomb test compilations with both uncorrected and corrected stratospheric 14C observations. For each of these scenarios of the total bomb 14C burden, the model simulated the distribution of excess radiocarbon among the stratosphere, troposphere, biosphere, and ocean carbon reservoirs. With a global bomb 14C production of 598–632 · 1026 atoms (99–105 kmol) 14C between 1945 and 1980, simulated excess radiocarbon inventories are in good agreement with all available stratospheric and tropospheric radiocarbon observations as well as with the latest estimates of the ocean excess radiocarbon inventories during the GEOSECS and WOCE surveys from Peacock (2004) and Key et al. (2004). For the very first time, our model is thus capable of closing the excess radiocarbon budget on the basis of our current knowledge of exchange rates and reservoir sizes in the global carbon system.
Independent verification of greenhouse gas emissions reporting is a legal requirement of the Kyoto Protocol, which has not yet been fully accomplished. Here, we show that dedicated long-term ...atmospheric measurements of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ), continuously conducted at polluted sites can provide the necessary tool for this undertaking. From our measurements at the semi-polluted Heidelberg site in the upper Rhine Valley, we find that in the catchment area CH 4 emissions decreased on average by 32 ± 6% from the second half of the 1990s until the first half of the 2000s, but the observed long-term trend of emissions is considerably smaller than that previously reported for southwest Germany. In contrast, regional fossil fuel CO 2 levels, estimated from high-precision 14 CO 2 observations, do not show any significant decreasing trend since 1986, in agreement with the reported emissions for this region. In order to provide accurate verification, these regional measurements would best be accompanied by adequate atmospheric transport modelling as required to precisely determine the relevant catchment area of the measurements. Furthermore, reliable reconciliation of reported emissions will only be possible if these are known at high spatial resolution in the catchment area of the observations. This information should principally be available in all countries that regularly report their greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
For the very first time, we present an observation‐based estimate of the temporal development of the biospheric excess radiocarbon (14C) inventory IB14,E, i.e., the change in the biospheric 14C ...inventory relative to prebomb times (1940s). IB14,E was calculated for the period 1963–2005 with a simple budget approach as the difference between the accumulated excess 14C production by atmospheric nuclear bomb tests and the nuclear industry and observation‐based reconstructions of the excess 14C inventories in the atmosphere and the ocean. IB14,E increased from the late 1950s onward to maximum values between 126 and 177 × 1026 atoms 14C between 1981 and 1985. In the early 1980s, the biosphere turned from a sink to a source of excess 14C. Consequently, IB14,E decreased to values of 108–167 × 1026 atoms 14C in 2005. The uncertainty of IB14,E is dominated by uncertainties in the total bomb 14C production and the oceanic excess 14C inventory. Unfortunately, atmospheric Δ14CO2 from the early 1980s lack the necessary precision to reveal the expected small change in the amplitude and phase of atmospheric Δ14C seasonal cycle due to the sign flip in the biospheric net 14C flux during that time.
Climate on Earth strongly depends on the radiative balance of its atmosphere, and thus, on the abundance of the radiatively active greenhouse gases. Largely due to human activities since the ...Industrial Revolution, the atmospheric burden of many greenhouse gases has increased dramatically. Direct measurements during the last decades and analysis of ancient air trapped in ice from polar regions allow the quantification of the change in these trace gas concentrations in the atmosphere. From a presumably “undisturbed” preindustrial situation several hundred years ago until today, the CO2 mixing ratio increased by almost 30% (Figure 1a) (Neftel et al. 1985; Conway et al. 1994; Etheridge et al. 1996). In the last decades this increase has been nearly exponential, leading to a global mean CO2 mixing ratio of almost 370 ppm at the turn of the millennium (Keeling and Whorf 1999).
High‐precision nitrous oxide (N2O) concentration and isotope ratio measurements have been carried out on archived air samples from the Antarctic station Neumayer covering the period 1990–2002. The ...results show that the increase in the N2O mixing ratio over this period is accompanied by a significant decrease in the heavy isotope content. The temporal isotope trends amount to (−0.040 ± 0.003)‰/yr for δ15N (the average of both nitrogen positions) and (−0.021 ± 0.003)‰/yr for δ18O. The individual trends for the terminal (position 1) and central (position 2) nitrogen atoms within the N2O molecule are (−0.064 ± 0.016)‰/yr for 1δ15N and (−0.014 ± 0.016)‰/yr for 2δ15N. The average 15N and 18O trends compare well with recent results from measurements on air extracted from polar firn and ice, confirming earlier estimates that isotopically depleted N2O, mainly from soil emissions, is responsible for a large fraction of the observed N2O increase in the atmosphere. The position‐dependent 15N determinations show a strong difference between the two positions. This is in disagreement with the firn and ice core data, which imply similar fractionations at both positions.
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