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Stratospheric contribution to the global bomb radiocarbon inventory: Model versus observation
Author(s) -
Broecker Wallace S.,
Peng TsungHung
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/94gb00680
Subject(s) - stratosphere , troposphere , biosphere , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , anomaly (physics) , climatology , radiocarbon dating , biosphere model , geology , physics , paleontology , condensed matter physics , astronomy
An attempt is made, through modeling, to account for the decline in the 14 C/C ratio in atmospheric CO 2 after its bomb‐test‐induced peak in 1963. The model suggests that as of 1964 about one third of the bomb 14 C remained in the stratosphere and that it was released to the troposphere with an e ‐folding time of about seven years. By contrast, measurements carried out in the stratosphere suggest that at that time the excess was closer to one quarter of the total and that the e ‐folding time for its decline was 3±1 years. The anomaly between model and observation cannot be attributed solely to an inadequacy in the representation of the terrestrial biosphere. Rather, it must reflect either an inadequacy in the ocean model or in the measured stratospheric inventories.