Suess effect

The Suess effect is a change in the ratio of the atmospheric concentrations of heavy isotopes of carbon (13C and 14C) by the admixture of large amounts of fossil-fuel derived CO2, which contains no 14CO2 and is depleted in 13CO2 relative to CO2 in the atmosphere and carbon in the upper ocean and the terrestrial biosphere .[1] It was discovered by and is named for the Austrian chemist Hans Suess,[2] who noted the influence of this effect on the accuracy of radiocarbon dating. More recently, the Suess effect has been used in studies of climate change. The term originally referred only to dilution of atmospheric 14CO2 relative to 12CO2. The concept was later extended to dilution of 13CO2 and to other reservoirs of carbon such as the oceans and soils, again relative to 12C.[3]

Although the ratio of atmospheric 14CO2 to 12CO2 decreased over the industrial era (prior to atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, commencing about 1950), because of the increase, due to fossil fuel emissions, in the amount of atmospheric CO2 over this period, roughly 1850 to 1950, the amount of atmospheric 14CO2 actually increased over this period. [4]

  1. ^ Tans, P.P.; de Jong, A.F.M.; Mook, W. G. (30 August 1979). "Natural atmospheric 14C variation and the Suess effect". Nature. 280 (5725): 826–828. Bibcode:1979Natur.280..826T. doi:10.1038/280826a0. S2CID 4323299.
  2. ^ "CARD: What is the Suess effect?". Canadian Archaeological Radioactive Database. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  3. ^ Keeling, C. D. (1979). "The Suess effect: 13Carbon-14Carbon interrelations". Environment International. 2 (4–6): 229–300. Bibcode:1979EnInt...2..229K. doi:10.1016/0160-4120(79)90005-9.
  4. ^ Schwartz, S. E.; Hua, Q.; Andrews, D. E.; Keeling, R. F.; Lehman, S. J.; Turnbull, J. C.; Reimer, P, J.; Miller, J. B.; Meijer, H. A. J. (2024). "Discussion: Presentation of Atmospheric 14CO2 Data". Radiocarbon. xx (xx): 1–14. doi:10.1017/RDC.2024.27.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)