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Predicted shift in the 13 C / 12 C ratio of atmospheric carbon dioxide
Author(s) -
Keeling Charles D.,
Bacastow Robert B.,
Tans Pieter P.
Publication year - 1980
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/gl007i007p00505
Subject(s) - biosphere , carbon dioxide , carbon dioxide in earth's atmosphere , fractionation , isotopes of carbon , atmosphere (unit) , environmental science , sink (geography) , atmospheric sciences , carbon 13 , compounds of carbon , environmental chemistry , carbon sink , carbon fibers , chemistry , oceanography , total organic carbon , geology , meteorology , physics , chemical reaction , climate change , materials science , nuclear physics , composite material , cartography , organic chemistry , astronomy , biochemistry , geography , composite number
Knowledge of recent global changes in the rare isotopic species 13 CO 2 in atmospheric carbon dioxide does not now distinguish whether the land biosphere is a source or sink for fossil fuel carbon dioxide. The question is critically dependent on isotopic fractionation between the atmosphere and ocean water: if the isotopic fractionation factor for CO 2 uptake at the air‐ocean boundary, α am , is approximately 0.986, as is the case for strongly alkaline solutions, the 13 CO 2 content of atmospheric CO 2 is insensitive to changes in the biosphere; if α am is approximately unity, as now seems likely for ocean water, very accurate measurements, over the next decade or longer, will permit an estimate to be made of the net global loss or gain of biospheric carbon.