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Variation of Concentration, 14C Activity and 13C/12C Ratios of CO2 in Air Samples from Kitt Peak, Arizona

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

S W Leavitt  and
Austin Long
S W Leavitt
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Wisconsin-Parkside Kenosha, Wisconsin 53141
Austin Long
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Wisconsin-Parkside Kenosha, Wisconsin 53141
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Abstract

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Air was sampled with 5L flasks at Kitt Peak (2100m elev) from 1983 through 1984 at approximately monthly intervals, occasionally supplemented with air samples from urban Tucson ca 75km away (760m elev). The Kitt Peak CO2 concentrations, represented by a yield measurement, fluctuated ca 25% over the monitoring period. The δ13C values (uncorrected for N2O) varied from ca −7.6 to −9.0, with high values (and low CO2 yields) in the late summer consistent with hemispheric seasonal biosphere effects. Tucson air has lower δ13C values and possibly greater CO2 yield suggesting a local fossil-fuel effect. 14C activity of four Kitt Peak samples range from 1.158±.007 to 1.223±.008 as uncorrected fraction of modern, below free air activity of ca 1.250 for 1984 even after correcting for fractionation. The slightly low 14C activity and δ13C values suggest the Kitt Peak air is not quite 100% clean and there may be a local/regional fossil-fuel contribution, but CO2 concentrations are similar to background atmospheric values.

Type
II. Carbon Cycle in the Environment
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 31 , Issue 3: June 20-25, 1988 Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia , 1989 , pp. 464 - 468
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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