Earth and climate system
Radiocarbon not only allows for dating and synchronizing environmental archives (e.g. marine and terrestrial sediments), it is also a valuable tracer for the earth carbon cycle. As an example, LIP is with its high-precision measurements a world-wide leading group in reconstructing past atmospheric 14C concentrations from tree-rings, that serve as a base for the international radiocarbon calibration curve (IntCal) and allow for dating or synchronizing other archives, where cosmogenically produced isotopes can also be found (e.g. 10Be in ice cores). As the 14C production is modulated by the sun’s activity, it also serves as a valuable proxy for past solar activity.
The LIP also collaborates closely with Biogeoscience group at ETH.
Atmospheric 14C across the Younger Dryas derived from Swiss tree-rings (red) are in good agreement with data from the Southern Hemisphere (gray) and will improve the international calibration curve (blue) in its next iteration.