Radiocarbon content of soil carbon and respired CO2 near T-Van from 2012 to 2015, Seasonal

To test the hypothesis that old carbon may be contributing to the carbon source strength of alpine tundra near T-Van, a chamber (growing season) and two types of subsurface gas wells (remainder of the year) were used to collect respired carbon dioxide samples for radiocarbon analysis from four locations across a soil moisture gradient near T-Van between 2012 and 2015. Near surface soil samples (~10 cm depth) from each site were additionally collected and density fractionated in order to model the contribution of various carbon pools to respired carbon fluxes on a seasonal basis through time. All samples were purified and graphitized by the INSTAAR Laboratory for AMS Radiocarbon Preparation and Research at the University of Colorado Boulder, then shipped to the Keck Carbon Cycle AMS Lab at the University of California, Irvine for analysis.