Contemporary particulate carbon
Conference
·
OSTI ID:5082462
Advances in natural radiocarbon measurement techniques have made it feasible, for the first time, to assess the contribution of biogenic (contemporary) carbonaceous sources to individual chemical fractions in milligram quantities of atmospheric particles. Isotopic measurements for source reconciliation are doubly important when dealing with pure species, such as methane, carbon monoxide or elemental carbon, because they represent the only compositional information obtainable. Elemental carbon is of special interest in this regard because of changing energy patterns associated with both contemporary (wood-burning) and fossil (diesel fuel and unleaded gasoline) carbon. Following a review of the assumptions underlying the use of radiocarbon as a biogenic tracer and the status of minicounter and accelerator techniques for the assay of milligram and microgram samples, a survey is presented of recent observations on urban and rural carbonaceous particles. Results for these particles, which have been fractionated according to size or volatility, have exhibited the full range from fossil to biogenic source dominance.
- Research Organization:
- National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5082462
- Report Number(s):
- PB-85-230803
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON
CARBON 14
CARBON ISOTOPES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MICROANALYSIS
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
POLLUTION
RADIOISOTOPES
RURAL AREAS
TRACER TECHNIQUES
URBAN AREAS
WOOD
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON
CARBON 14
CARBON ISOTOPES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MICROANALYSIS
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
POLLUTION
RADIOISOTOPES
RURAL AREAS
TRACER TECHNIQUES
URBAN AREAS
WOOD
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES