Separating natural and bomb-produced radiocarbon in the ocean: The potential alkalinity method

Abstract

The use of radiocarbon (Δ 14C) as a tracer for oceanic processes generally requires differentiation of naturally occurring radiocarbon from the bomb component produced by atmospheric nuclear weapons testing. We present a new separation method based on the strong linear correlation between Δ 14C and potential alkalinity. Unlike previous techniques the new algorithm is applicable at all latitudes. Additionally, the potential alkalinity method provides an estimate of surface ocean prebomb Δ 14C concentrations. Predictions with the technique appear to be unbiased and have uncertainties which are less than previous techniques.