Decade Time Scale Variability of Radiocarbon, and the CO2 Cycle in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Using Banded Corals

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT OCE-0137207 In this study, researchers at the University of California at Irvine will make high-precision measurements of radiocarbon (14C) in annual bands in corals from the Galapagos Islands in order to understand the variability of carbon dioxide fluxes from the tropical Pacific Ocean to the atmosphere between AD 1600 and 1950. The radiocarbon measurements will be made by accelerator mass spectrometry. Measurements of the strontium/calcium ratio and the oxygen isotopic composition (18O) will be made to identify changes in coralline 14C arising from upwelling-induced changes in sea surface temperature. The investigators expect that this study will yield a record of how the CO2 cycle in the tropical Pacific has changed on human time scales.