Diurnal variation of CO2 concentration, Δ14C and δ13C in an urban forest: estimate of the anthropogenic and biogenic CO2 contributions

Diurnal variation in the atmospheric CO₂ concentration and the carbon isotopic composition (Δ¹⁴C and δ¹³C) was measured in a forest in an urban area on 9 February 1999. The carbon isotope approach used in the present study differentiated between the quantitative contributions from anthropogenic and biogenic CO₂ sources in the urban atmosphere. The anthropogenic (fossil fuel) and biogenic (soil respiration) contributions was estimated, and they ranged from 1 to 16% and from 2 to 8% of the total atmospheric CO₂. The diurnal variation of the anthropogenic CO₂ was the major cause of the total atmospheric CO₂ variation, while the biogenic CO₂ remained relatively constant throughout the day. Estimating the contribution of soil respired CO₂ provided the mean residence time of soil respired CO₂ within the forest atmosphere.     

Vertical profiles of biospheric and fossil fuel-derived CO2 and fossil fuel CO2 : CO ratios from airborne measurements of Δ14C, CO2 and CO above Colorado, USA

Measurements of  Δ¹⁴C  in atmospheric CO₂ are an effective method of separating CO₂ additions from fossil fuel and biospheric sources or sinks of CO₂. We illustrate this technique with vertical profiles of CO₂ and  Δ¹⁴C  analysed in whole air flask samples collected above Colorado, USA in May and July 2004. Comparison of lower tropospheric composition to cleaner air at higher altitudes (>5 km) revealed considerable additions from respiration in the morning in both urban and rural locations. Afternoon concentrations were mainly governed by fossil fuel emissions and boundary layer depth, also showing net biospheric CO₂ uptake in some cases. We estimate local industrial CO₂:CO emission ratios using in situ measurements of CO concentration. Ratios are found to vary by 100% and average 57 mole CO₂:1 mole CO, higher than expected from emissions inventories. Uncertainty in CO₂ from different sources was ±1.1 to ±4.1 ppm for addition or uptake of −4.6 to 55.8 ppm, limited by  Δ¹⁴C  measurement precision and uncertainty in background  Δ¹⁴C  and CO₂ levels.     

Reconciliation of excess 14C-constrained global CO2 piston velocity estimates

Oceanic excess radiocarbon data is widely used as a constraint for air–sea gas exchange. However, recent estimates of the global mean piston velocity  〈 k 〉  from Naegler et al., Krakauer et al., Sweeney et al. and Müller et al. differ substantially despite the fact that they all are based on excess radiocarbon data from the GLODAP data base. Here I show that these estimates of  〈 k 〉  can be reconciled if first, the changing oceanic radiocarbon inventory due to net uptake of CO₂ is taken into account; second, if realistic reconstructions of sea surface  Δ¹⁴C  are used and third, if  〈 k 〉  is consistently reported with or without normalization to a Schmidt number of 660. These corrections applied, unnormalized estimates of  〈 k 〉  from these studies range between 15.1 and 18.2 cm h⁻¹. However, none of these estimates can be regarded as the only correct value for  〈 k 〉  . I thus propose to use the 'average' of the corrected values of  〈 k 〉  presented here (16.5 ± 3.2 cm h⁻¹) as the best available estimate of the global mean unnormalized piston velocity  〈 k 〉  , resulting in a gross ocean-to-atmosphere CO₂ flux of 76 ± 15 PgC yr⁻¹ for the mid-1990s.     

Determination of microbial versus root‐produced CO2 in an agricultural ecosystem by means of δ13CO2 measurements in soil air

The amounts of microbial and root‐respired CO₂ in a maize/winter wheat agricultural system in south western Germany were investigated by measurements of the CO₂ mixing ratio and the ¹³C/¹²C ratio in soil air. CO₂ fluxes at the soil surface for the period of investigation (1993–1995) were also determined. Root respired CO₂ shows a strong correlation with the plant mass above ground surface of the respective vegetation (R²≥0.88); the maximum CO₂ release from roots was in August for the maize (2.0±0.5 mmol m⁻² h⁻¹) and in June for winter wheat (1.5±0.5 mmol m⁻² h⁻¹). Maximum CO₂ production by roots correlate well with the maximum amount of plant root matter. Integrating the CO₂ production over the whole growing season and normalizing to the dry root matter yields, the CO₂ production per gram dry organic root matter (DORM) of maize was found to be 0.14±0.03 gC (g DORM)⁻¹. At the sites investigated, root‐produced CO₂ contributed (16±4)% for maize, and (24±4)% for winter wheat, respectively, to the total annual CO₂ production in the soil (450±50 gC m⁻² for maize, 210±30 gC m⁻² for winter wheat).