No abstract

4C measured in trace gases in clean air helps to determine the sources of such gases, their long-range transport in the atmosphere, and their exchange with other carbon cycle reservoirs. In order to separate sources, transport and exchange, it is necessary to interpret measurements using models of these processes. We present atmospheric ' 4C02 measurements made in New Zealand since 1954 and at various Pacific Ocean sites for shorter periods. We analyze these for latitudinal and seasonal variation, the latter being consistent with a seasonally varying exchange rate between the stratosphere and troposphere. The observed seasonal cycle does not agree with that predicted by a zonally averaged global circulation model. We discuss recent accelerator mass spectrometry measurements of atmospheric 14CH4 and the problems involved in determining the fossil fuel methane source. Current data imply a fossil carbon contribution of ca 25%, and the major sources of uncertainty in this number are the uncertainty in the nuclear power source of 14CH4, and in the measured value for S'4C in atmospheric methane.

No abstract

The energy and quantum fluorescence spectrum of quinine bisulfate in .V H2S04 has been measured. The energx' at each wave length (joules sec.-1 cm.-1 mu-1) was determined by comparison with a tungsten lamp of known color temperature. The quinine bisulfate fluorescence spectrum is proposed as a standard for calibrating monochromators to be used for measuring fluorescence or phosphorescence spectra.

Tree rings from a section of Prumnopitys taxifolia (matai) covering the period AD 1335-1745 have been radiocarbon dated and used to generate a 14C calibration curve for southern hemisphere wood. Comparison of this curve with calibration data for northern hemisphere wood does not show a systematic difference between 14C ages measured in the northern and southern hemispheres. A floating chronology covering 270 yr and terminating at the last Taupo (New Zealand) eruption, derived from a sequence of 10-yr samples of tree rings from Phyllocladus trichomanoides (celery pine, or tanekaha), is also consistent with the absence of a systematic north-south difference, and together with the matai data, fixes the date of the Taupo eruption at AD 232 ± 15.