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Observations of the anomalous oxygen isotopic composition of carbon dioxide in the lower stratosphere and the flux of the anomaly to the troposphere
Author(s) -
Boering K. A.,
Jackson T.,
Hoag K. J.,
Cole A. S.,
Perri M. J.,
Thiemens M.,
Atlas E.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2003gl018451
Subject(s) - troposphere , stratosphere , atmospheric sciences , flux (metallurgy) , tracer , anomaly (physics) , atmosphere (unit) , δ18o , environmental science , carbon dioxide , biosphere , isotopes of oxygen , stable isotope ratio , climatology , geology , chemistry , meteorology , physics , organic chemistry , condensed matter physics , geochemistry , quantum mechanics , astronomy , nuclear physics
Measurements of the triple oxygen isotopic composition of stratospheric CO 2 in whole air samples from the NASA ER‐2 aircraft show anomalous enrichments in 17 O and 18 O. The compact correlation of the isotope anomaly (defined as Δ 17 O = δ 17 O − 0.516 × δ 18 O) with simultaneous N 2 O measurements demonstrates that Δ 17 O CO2 is a long‐lived tracer with a stratospheric source. These characteristics, and an isotopic link to O 3 production, make Δ 17 O CO2 potentially useful as a tracer of integrated stratospheric chemistry and transport. The Δ 17 O CO2 :N 2 O correlation is also used to estimate a net Δ 17 O CO2 flux to the troposphere of 3.6 ± 0.9 × 10 15 ‰ mol CO 2 yr −1 . This flux is required to predict and understand the CO 2 and O 2 isotope anomalies in the troposphere and their use as tracers of gross carbon exchanges between the atmosphere and biosphere on interannual to glacial‐interglacial time scales.