The distribution of bomb radiocarbon in the ocean

Abstract

Water column inventories are calculated for bomb radiocarbon at all the stations occupied during the GEOSECS and NORPAX expeditions and for the available TTO stations. The pattern of global inventories obtained in this way suggests that a sizable portion of the bomb radiocarbon that entered the Antarctic, the northern Pacific, and the tropical ocean has been transported to the adjacent temperate zones. A strategy for utilizing these inventory anomalies as constraints on global ocean circulation models is presented. Essential to this strategy are the improvement of our knowledge of the pattern of wind speed over the ocean, the establishment of the wind speed dependence of the rate of gas exchange between the atmosphere and sea, and the continued mapping of the distribution of bomb‐produced radiocarbon in the sea.

New views of tropical paleoclimates from corals

“…The spike of bomb CO has decreased in the atmosphere during subsequent years, mostly as a result of isotopic exchange with CO in the surface ocean. The penetration of bomb C into the water column has been measured by several investigators over the years as a component of water-sampling programs such as the Geochemical Ocean Sections Program (GEOSECS) and the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) (Linick, 1980;O G stlund and Stuiver, 1980;Quay et al, 1983;Broecker et al, 1985). These C data have been important for critical tests in ocean circulation models (Toggweiler et al, 1991).…”

Radiocarbon in the Arabian Sea water column: Temporal variations in bomb14C inventory since the GEOSECS and CO2air‐sea exchange rates

“…These measurements not only provided extensive data on the •4C distributions in the oceans but also helped determine the rates of some of the oceanic processes, for example, ventilation of deep waters and air-sea exchange of CO2 [Stuiver, 1980;Broecker et al, 1985].…”

Growth rate of a deep-sea coral using 210Pb and other isotopes

“…CONCENTRATIONS OF BOMEPRODUCIZD transient tracers (r4C, 3H, 90Sr) in the water column have been used to estimate such processes as the mixing rate of water in the main thermocline (BROECKER et al, 1985), the ventilation rate of midocean gyms (JEN~NS, 1982;DRUFFE& 1989), and inter-ocean transfer of water (FINE, 1985). Transient tracer dam are obtained during infrequent global surveys of the water column, such as Geosecs (Geochemical Ocean Sections Study) and TTO (Transient Tracers in the Oceans), whereas highresolution time histories of tracers are obtained from annually banded corals and are restricted to the upper 70 m of the water column.…”