B043-05
Radiocarbon Clues on Fossil Methane Emission Trends

Wednesday, 9 December 2020: 19:16
Virtual
Hinrich Schaefer1, Keith R Lassey2, Anthony Maurice Bromley1, Jocelyn C Turnbull3 and Andrew Milford Smith4, (1)National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand, (2)NIWA, Wellington, New Zealand, (3)GNS Science, Lower Hutt, New Zealand, (4)Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Kirrawee DC, Australia
Recorded Presentation
Abstract:
The amount of methane in the atmosphere is currently increasing, contributing to climate change. It is important to identify the cause of the increase, which could be rising emissions from agriculture or fossil fuel use. The radiocarbon content of atmospheric methane (14CH4) will decline with rising fossil fuel methane, but the interpretation of trends is complicated by 14CH4 production in nuclear power generation. Here we examine 30 years of 14CH4 data measured in New Zealand using a technique that simultaneously resolves global trends in the fossil fuel fraction of the methane budget and nuclear 14CH4.
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