Bronk Ramsey
Christopher
Bronk Ramsey
Christopher
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ArticleMarine20-the marine radiocarbon age calibration curve (0-55,000 cal BP)(Cambridge University Press, 2020-08-12) Heaton, Timothy J. ; Köhler, Peter ; Butzin, Martin ; Bard, Edouard ; Reimer, Ron W. ; Austin, William E. N. ; Bronk Ramsey, Christopher ; Grootes, Pieter M. ; Hughen, Konrad A. ; Kromer, Bernd ; Reimer, Paula J. ; Adkins, Jess F. ; Burke, Andrea ; Cook, Mea S. ; Olsen, Jesper ; Skinner, Luke C.The concentration of radiocarbon (14C) differs between ocean and atmosphere. Radiocarbon determinations from samples which obtained their 14C in the marine environment therefore need a marine-specific calibration curve and cannot be calibrated directly against the atmospheric-based IntCal20 curve. This paper presents Marine20, an update to the internationally agreed marine radiocarbon age calibration curve that provides a non-polar global-average marine record of radiocarbon from 0–55 cal kBP and serves as a baseline for regional oceanic variation. Marine20 is intended for calibration of marine radiocarbon samples from non-polar regions; it is not suitable for calibration in polar regions where variability in sea ice extent, ocean upwelling and air-sea gas exchange may have caused larger changes to concentrations of marine radiocarbon. The Marine20 curve is based upon 500 simulations with an ocean/atmosphere/biosphere box-model of the global carbon cycle that has been forced by posterior realizations of our Northern Hemispheric atmospheric IntCal20 14C curve and reconstructed changes in CO2 obtained from ice core data. These forcings enable us to incorporate carbon cycle dynamics and temporal changes in the atmospheric 14C level. The box-model simulations of the global-average marine radiocarbon reservoir age are similar to those of a more complex three-dimensional ocean general circulation model. However, simplicity and speed of the box model allow us to use a Monte Carlo approach to rigorously propagate the uncertainty in both the historic concentration of atmospheric 14C and other key parameters of the carbon cycle through to our final Marine20 calibration curve. This robust propagation of uncertainty is fundamental to providing reliable precision for the radiocarbon age calibration of marine based samples. We make a first step towards deconvolving the contributions of different processes to the total uncertainty; discuss the main differences of Marine20 from the previous age calibration curve Marine13; and identify the limitations of our approach together with key areas for further work. The updated values for ΔR, the regional marine radiocarbon reservoir age corrections required to calibrate against Marine20, can be found at the data base http://calib.org/marine/.
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ArticleA response to community questions on the marine20 radiocarbon age calibration curve: marine reservior ages and the calibration of 14 C samples from the oceans(Cambridge University Press, 2022-11-02) Heaton, Timothy J. ; Bard, Edouard ; Bronk Ramsey, Christopher ; Butzin, Martin ; Hatté, Christine ; Hughen, Konrad A. ; Köhler, Peter ; Reimer, Paula J.Radiocarbon (14C) concentrations in the oceans are different from those in the atmosphere. Understanding these ocean-atmospheric 14C differences is important both to estimate the calendar ages of samples which obtained their 14C in the marine environment, and to investigate the carbon cycle. The Marine20 radiocarbon age calibration curve is created to address these dual aims by providing a global-scale surface ocean record of radiocarbon from 55,000–0 cal yr BP that accounts for the smoothed response of the ocean to variations in atmospheric 14C production rates and factors out the effect of known changes in global-scale palaeoclimatic variables. The curve also serves as a baseline to study regional oceanic 14C variation. Marine20 offers substantial improvements over the previous Marine13 curve. In response to community questions, we provide a short intuitive guide, intended for the lay-reader, on the construction and use of the Marine20 calibration curve. We describe the choices behind the making of Marine20, as well as the similarities and differences compared with the earlier Marine calibration curves. We also describe how to use the Marine20 curve for calibration and how to estimate ΔR—the localized variation in the oceanic 14C levels due to regional factors which are not incorporated in the global-scale Marine20 curve. To aid understanding, illustrative worked examples are provided.
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ArticleThe Intcal20 Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon age calibration curve (0-55 cal kBP)(Cambridge University Press, 2020-08-12) Reimer, Paula J. ; Austin, William E. N. ; Bard, Edouard ; Bayliss, Alex ; Blackwell, Paul G. ; Bronk Ramsey, Christopher ; Butzin, Martin ; Cheng, Hai ; Edwards, R. Lawrence ; Friedrich, Michael ; Grootes, Pieter M. ; Guilderson, Thomas P. ; Hajdas, Irka ; Heaton, Timothy J. ; Hogg, Alan G. ; Hughen, Konrad A. ; Kromer, Bernd ; Manning, Sturt W. ; Muscheler, Raimund ; Palmer, Jonathan G. ; Pearson, Charlotte ; van der Plicht, Johannes ; Reimer, Ron W. ; Richards, David A. ; Scott, E. Marian ; Southon, John R. ; Turney, Christian S. M. ; Wacker, Lukas ; Adolphi, Florian ; Büntgen, Ulf ; Capano, Manuela ; Fahrni, Simon M. ; Fogtmann-Schulz, Alexandra ; Friedrich, Ronny ; Köhler, Peter ; Kudsk, Sabrina ; Miyake, Fusa ; Olsen, Jesper ; Reinig, Frederick ; Sakamoto, Minoru ; Sookdeo, Adam ; Talamo, SahraRadiocarbon (14C) ages cannot provide absolutely dated chronologies for archaeological or paleoenvironmental studies directly but must be converted to calendar age equivalents using a calibration curve compensating for fluctuations in atmospheric 14C concentration. Although calibration curves are constructed from independently dated archives, they invariably require revision as new data become available and our understanding of the Earth system improves. In this volume the international 14C calibration curves for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, as well as for the ocean surface layer, have been updated to include a wealth of new data and extended to 55,000 cal BP. Based on tree rings, IntCal20 now extends as a fully atmospheric record to ca. 13,900 cal BP. For the older part of the timescale, IntCal20 comprises statistically integrated evidence from floating tree-ring chronologies, lacustrine and marine sediments, speleothems, and corals. We utilized improved evaluation of the timescales and location variable 14C offsets from the atmosphere (reservoir age, dead carbon fraction) for each dataset. New statistical methods have refined the structure of the calibration curves while maintaining a robust treatment of uncertainties in the 14C ages, the calendar ages and other corrections. The inclusion of modeled marine reservoir ages derived from a three-dimensional ocean circulation model has allowed us to apply more appropriate reservoir corrections to the marine 14C data rather than the previous use of constant regional offsets from the atmosphere. Here we provide an overview of the new and revised datasets and the associated methods used for the construction of the IntCal20 curve and explore potential regional offsets for tree-ring data. We discuss the main differences with respect to the previous calibration curve, IntCal13, and some of the implications for archaeology and geosciences ranging from the recent past to the time of the extinction of the Neanderthals.
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ArticlePunctuated shutdown of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation during Greenland Stadial 1(Nature Publishing Group, 2016-05-19) Hogg, Alan G. ; Southon, John R. ; Turney, Christian S. M. ; Palmer, Jonathan G. ; Bronk Ramsey, Christopher ; Fenwick, Pavla ; Boswijk, Gretel ; Friedrich, Michael ; Helle, Gerhard ; Hughen, Konrad A. ; Jones, Richard ; Kromer, Bernd ; Noronha, Alexandra ; Reynard, Linda ; Staff, Richard ; Wacker, LukasThe Greenland Stadial 1 (GS-1; ~12.9 to 11.65 kyr cal BP) was a period of North Atlantic cooling, thought to have been initiated by North America fresh water runoff that caused a sustained reduction of North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), resulting in an antiphase temperature response between the hemispheres (the ‘bipolar seesaw’). Here we exploit sub-fossil New Zealand kauri trees to report the first securely dated, decadally-resolved atmospheric radiocarbon (14C) record spanning GS-1. By precisely aligning Southern and Northern Hemisphere tree-ring 14C records with marine 14C sequences we document two relatively short periods of AMOC collapse during the stadial, at ~12,920-12,640 cal BP and 12,050-11,900 cal BP. In addition, our data show that the interhemispheric atmospheric 14C offset was close to zero prior to GS-1, before reaching ‘near-modern’ values at ~12,660 cal BP, consistent with synchronous recovery of overturning in both hemispheres and increased Southern Ocean ventilation. Hence, sustained North Atlantic cooling across GS-1 was not driven by a prolonged AMOC reduction but probably due to an equatorward migration of the Polar Front, reducing the advection of southwesterly air masses to high latitudes. Our findings suggest opposing hemispheric temperature trends were driven by atmospheric teleconnections, rather than AMOC changes.