Global climate and the carbon cycle are intimately linked through transfer of carbon (C) between the different reservoirs, including C held in the biosphere and atmosphere, dissolved in the oceans, and sequestered in the geosphere. Radiocarbon (C-14) is a key tool in the scientific effort for gaining insights into the global C cycle not solely for obtaining chronologies for records of past climate conditions, but increasingly as tracer that allows quantification of exchange rates between the major reservoirs of the C cycle. Next to a continuously expanding field of C-14 applications, analytical tools have matured over the last decades, including downscaling the sample size (< 20 µg C) and increasing the sample throughput.
Our session aims at bringing together an interdisciplinary group of researchers that advance and apply C-14 analyses covering a variety of topics, including: (1) Experimental and analytical advancements (e.g., sample preparation, increasing the sample throughput and decreasing sample size, broadening the range of compounds that can be isolated). (2) Contributions with a focus on novel insights into the carbon cycle and associated processes, e.g., storage times in soils, sediment dispersal, or climate driven C transfer between reservoirs. (3) Studies involving the exploration of bulk, molecular and isotopic information embedded in novel archives such as high altitude ice cores, Arctic deltaic lakes, and groundwater.