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Direct quantification of fossil fuel CO2 (CO2ff) in atmospheric samples can be used to examine several carbon cycle and air quality questions. We collected in-situ CO2, CO, and CH4 measurements and flask samples in the boundary layer and free troposphere over Sacramento, California, USA, during two aircraft flights over and downwind of this urban area during spring of 2009. The flask samples were analyzed for Δ14CO2 and CO2 to determine the recently added CO2ff mole fraction. A suite of additional greenhouse gases including hydrocarbons and halocarbons were measured in the same samples. Strong correlations were observed between CO2ff and numerous trace gases associated with urban emissions. From these correlations we estimate emission ratios between CO2ff and these species, and compare these with bottom-up inventory-derived estimates. Recent county level inventory estimates for carbon monoxide (CO) and benzene from the California Air Resources Board CEPAM database are in good agreement with our measured emission ratios, whereas older emissions inventories appear to overestimate emissions of these gases. For most other trace species, there are substantial differences between our measured emission ratios and those derived from available emission inventories. For the first flight, we combine in situ CO measurements with the measured CO:CO2ff emission ratio of 14±2 ppbCO/ppmCO2 to derive an estimate of CO2ff mole fraction throughout this flight, and also estimate the biospheric CO2 mixing ratio (CO2bio) from the difference of total and fossil CO2. The resulting CO2bio varies substantially between air in the urban plume and the surrounding boundary layer air. Finally, we use the in situ estimates of CO2ff mole fraction to infer total fossil fuel CO2 emissions from the Sacramento region, using a mass balance approach. However the resulting emissions are uncertain to within a factor of two due to uncertainties in wind speed and boundary layer height. Nevertheless, this first attempt to estimate urban-scale CO2ff from atmospheric radiocarbon measurements shows that CO2ff can be used to verify and improve emission inventories for many poorly known anthropogenic species, separate biospheric CO2, and indicates the potential to constrain the CO2ff emissions if transport uncertainties are reduced.

New radiocarbon calibration curves, IntCal04 and Marine04, have been constructed and internationally ratified to replace the terrestrial and marine components of IntCal98. The new calibration data sets extend an additional 2000 yr, from 0–26 cal kyr BP (Before Present, 0 cal BP = AD 1950), and provide much higher resolution, greater precision, and more detailed structure than IntCal98. For the Marine04 curve, dendrochronologically-dated tree-ring samples, converted with a box diffusion model to marine mixed-layer ages, cover the period from 0–10.5 cal kyr BP. Beyond 10.5 cal kyr BP, high-resolution marine data become available from foraminifera in varved sediments and U/Th-dated corals. The marine records are corrected with site-specific 14C reservoir age information to provide a single global marine mixed-layer calibration from 10.5–26.0 cal kyr BP. A substantial enhancement relative to IntCal98 is the introduction of a random walk model, which takes into account the uncertainty in both the calendar age and the 14C age to calculate the underlying calibration curve (Buck and Blackwell, this issue). The marine data sets and calibration curve for marine samples from the surface mixed layer (Marine04) are discussed here. The tree-ring data sets, sources of uncertainty, and regional offsets are presented in detail in a companion paper by Reimer et al. (this issue).

The IntCal04 and Marine04 radiocarbon calibration curves have been updated from 12 cal kBP (cal kBP is here defined as thousands of calibrated years before AD 1950), and extended to 50 cal kBP, utilizing newly available data sets that meet the IntCal Working Group criteria for pristine corals and other carbonates and for quantification of uncertainty in both the 14C and calendar timescales as established in 2002. No change was made to the curves from 0-12 cal kBP. The curves were constructed using a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) implementation of the random walk model used for IntCal04 and Marine04. The new curves were ratified at the 20th International Radiocarbon Conference in June 2009 and are available in the Supplemental Material at www.radiocarbon.org.

International audience; The last glacial to interglacial transition was studied using down core records of stable isotopes in diatoms and foraminifera as well as surface water temperature, sea ice extent, and ice-rafted debris (IRD) concentrations from a piston core retrieved from the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Sea ice is the first variable to change during the last deglaciation, followed by nutrient proxies and sea surface temperature. This sequence of events is independent of the age model adopted for the core. The comparison of the marine records to Antarctic ice CO 2 variation depends on the age model as 14 C determinations cannot be obtained for the time interval of 29.5-14.5 ka. Assuming a constant sedimentation rate for this interval, our data suggest that sea ice and nutrient changes at about 19 ka B.P. lead the increase in atmospheric pCO 2 by approximately 2000 years. Our diatom-based sea ice record is in phase with the sodium record of the Vostok ice core, which is related to sea ice cover and similarly leads the increase in atmospheric CO 2. If gas exchange played a major role in determining glacial to interglacial CO 2 variations, then a delay mechanism of a few thousand years is needed to explain the observed sequence of events. Otherwise, the main cause of atmospheric pCO 2 change must be sought elsewhere, rather than in the Southern Ocean.

The deep-sea coral, Enallopsammia rostrata, a member of the Dendrophylliidae family, is a major structure-forming species that creates massive dendroid colonies, up to 1 m wide and 0.5 m tall. Living colonies of E. rostrata have been collected using the PISCES submersibles from three locations from 480 to 788 m water depth in the Line Islands (similar to 160 degrees W) in the Equatorial Pacific. We have applied to these colonies a high sensitivity, low blank technique to determine U-series ages in small quantities (70 +/- 15 mg) of modern and near modern calcareous skeletons using MC-ICP-MS (Multi-collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer). The application of this method to living slow-growing colonies from a range of sites as well as the observations of axial growth patterns in thin sections of their skeletons offer the first expanded and well constrained data on longevity, growth pattern and mean growth rates in E. rostrata. Absolute dated specimens indicate life spans of colonies ranging from 209 +/- 8 yrs to 605 +/- 7 yrs with radial growth rates from 0.012 to 0.072 mm yr(-1) and vertical extension rates from 0.6 to 1.9 mm yr(-1). The linear growth rates reported here are lower than those reported for other deep-sea scleractinian corals (Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata). The U-series dating indicates that the growth ring patterns of E. rostrata are not consistent with annual periodicity emphasizing the importance of absolute radiometric dating methods to constrain growth rates. Slow accretion and extreme longevity make this species and its habitat especially vulnerable to disturbances and impacts from human activities. This dating method combined with observation of growth patterns opens up new perspectives in the field of deep-sea corals since it can provide quantitative estimates of growth rates and longevity of deep-sea corals in general.