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Regional patterns of radiocarbon and fossil fuel‐derived CO 2 in surface air across North America
Author(s) -
Hsueh Diana Y.,
Krakauer Nir Y.,
Randerson James T.,
Xu Xiaomei,
Trumbore Susan E.,
Southon John R.
Publication year - 2007
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 - 10.1029/2006gl027032
Subject(s) - radiocarbon dating , fossil fuel , environmental science , physical geography , spatial distribution , atmospheric sciences , geology , geography , ecology , paleontology , biology , remote sensing
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 CO 2 with a mean Δ 14 C 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 Δ 14 C 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 CO 2 relative to the mountain west. A model–data comparison suggests that surveys of annual plant Δ 14 C can provide a useful test of atmospheric mixing in transport models that are used to estimate the spatial distribution of carbon sources and sinks.