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| Titel |
Simulating the integrated summertime Δ14CO2 signature from anthropogenic emissions over Western Europe |
| VerfasserIn |
D. Bozhinova, M. K. Molen, I. R. Velde, M. C. Krol, S. Laan, H. A. J. Meijer, W. Peters |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1680-7316
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ; 14, no. 14 ; Nr. 14, no. 14 (2014-07-17), S.7273-7290 |
| Datensatznummer |
250118892
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/acp-14-7273-2014.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
Radiocarbon dioxide (14CO2, reported in
Δ14CO2) can be used to determine the fossil fuel
CO2 addition to the atmosphere, since fossil fuel
CO2 no longer contains any 14C. After the release of
CO2 at the source, atmospheric transport causes dilution of
strong local signals into the background and detectable gradients of
Δ14CO2 only remain in areas with high fossil fuel
emissions. This fossil fuel signal can moreover be partially masked
by the enriching effect that anthropogenic emissions of
14CO2 from the nuclear industry have on the atmospheric
Δ14CO2 signature. In this paper, we investigate
the regional gradients in 14CO2 over the European
continent and quantify the effect of the emissions from nuclear
industry. We simulate the emissions and transport of fossil fuel
CO2 and nuclear 14CO2 for Western Europe
using the Weather Research and Forecast model (WRF-Chem) for a
period covering 6 summer months in 2008. We evaluate the
expected CO2 gradients and the resulting
Δ14CO2 in simulated integrated air samples over
this period, as well as in simulated plant samples.
We find that the average gradients of fossil fuel CO2 in the
lower 1200 m of the atmosphere are close to 15 ppm
at a 12 km × 12 km horizontal resolution. The
nuclear influence on Δ14CO2 signatures varies
considerably over the domain and for large areas in France and the UK it
can range from 20 to more than 500% of the influence of
fossil fuel emissions. Our simulations suggest that the resulting
gradients in Δ14CO2 are well captured in plant
samples, but due to their time-varying uptake of CO2, their
signature can be different with over 3‰ from the atmospheric
samples in some regions. We conclude that the framework presented
will be well-suited for the interpretation of actual air and plant
14CO2 samples. |
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