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radioactivity

Photo of a sample under a microscope
Posted inEditors' Vox

Rare and Revealing: Radiocarbon in Service of Paleoceanography

by Luke C. Skinner and Edouard Bard 7 February 20237 February 2023

While radiocarbon is best known as a dating tool, this rare isotope can also provide unique and wide-ranging insights into the cycling of carbon in the Earth system.

Una distintiva nube en forma de hongo producto de una prueba nuclear se alza en un cielo azul oscuro y nubes atmosféricas.
Posted inNews

Una explosión de radiocarbono del pasado

by Caroline Hasler 31 October 202222 March 2023

El fechamiento por radiocarbono es un pilar de la climatología y la arqueología. Sin embargo, esta metodología se encuentra amenazada por las emisiones de combustibles fósiles, que invalidan una señal útil proveniente de pruebas nucleares.

A distinctive mushroom cloud blossoms over the cloud line during detonation of the Ivy Mike hydrogen bomb in 1952.
Posted inNews

Radiocarbon’s Blast from the Past

by Caroline Hasler 15 September 202231 October 2022

Radiocarbon dating is a cornerstone of climate and archaeological sciences. But the method is under threat as fossil fuel emissions negate a useful signal from atomic tests.

The inside of the KamLAND antineutrino detector comprises a grid of tessellated segments, parallelograms and trapezoids, that fit together to form a sphere. Each segment of the detector, which is black, has 16 sensors, which are gold, arranged in a 4 by 4 pattern. Each segment is connected by a white border. At the center of the detector, and image, is a green circle.
Posted inResearch Spotlights

Estimating Uranium and Thorium Abundance with Geoneutrinos

by Morgan Rehnberg 31 August 202231 August 2022

Terrestrial electron antineutrino observations provide new constraints on the contributions of radiogenic heat in the mantle.

Scientists take groundwater samples at a karst aquifer field site.
Posted inNews

Groundwater May Fix as Much Carbon as Some Ocean Surface Waters

by Carolyn Wilke 28 July 20227 September 2022

Microbes from wells as deep as 90 meters created organic carbon at a rate that overlaps with some nutrient-poor spots in the ocean.

Neat rows of crops grow between rows of trees
Posted inNews

Using Nuclear Fallout to Measure Soil Erosion in Tunisia

by Issa Sikiti da Silva 5 November 202028 January 2022

Cesium-137 acts as a tracer to evaluate the efficiency of conservation methods.

Close up of granular structure of meteorite rock
Posted inEditors' Highlights

Traces of Impacts on Warm Planetesimals Early in Solar System

by Laurent G. J. Montési and J. Filiberto 9 October 20208 March 2022

Meteorite NWA 11004 contains evidence of melting preceding an impact dated to 4546±36 Ma. Short lived radioactive decay had already heated the parent body of this meteorite before the impact.

A man backpacks up a rocky trail to an air-sampling station
Posted inNews

Radioactive Bookkeeping of Carbon Emissions

by Sarah Derouin 22 June 20207 March 2022

A new sampling method uses carbon-14 to single out which carbon dioxide molecules in the atmosphere derive from fossil fuels. The method could help track emissions goals for climate mitigation.

Cave formations in Furong Cave near Chongqing, China
Posted inResearch Spotlights

How to Read Atmospheric History Written in Flowstones

by Elizabeth Thompson 10 February 202028 January 2022

Oxygen isotope ratios in cave deposits reflect past climates, but interpreting these data is not straightforward. A new study explores what these ratios really tell us.

Rocky, steep-sided desert valley
Posted inNews

The Dawning of the Age of Old Aquifers

by Sarah Derouin 21 August 201919 July 2022

A new technique using 81Kr can measure the age of old groundwater in arid regions. The method can be used as a proxy for past climates and weather patterns.

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EDITORS' HIGHLIGHTS
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“How Do Atmospheric Rivers Respond to Extratropical Variability?”
By Sarah Kang

EDITORS' VOX
Reviews of Geophysics
“Rare and Revealing: Radiocarbon in Service of Paleoceanography”
By Luke C. Skinner and Edouard Bard

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