Delta 14CO2 Record from Vermunt, Austria, February 1959 - June 1983

The sampling at Vermunt was discontinued in 1983. During sampling from 1959 to 1983, the sampling methods were modified twice (Levin et al. 1985). From 1959 through November 1965, three dishes with 1.5 L of 0.5 normal sodium hydroxide (NaOH) carbonate-free solution were exposed to the atmosphere for ~3 days, and the atmospheric CO2 absorbed during that time was recovered by acid evolution. From November 1965 through May 1975, samples were collected by pumping fresh air continuously for 10 days through a box containing 1.5 L of a 0.5 normal NaOH solution. The method has been described by Münnich and Vogel (1959). From May 1975 to the time sampling stopped, a technique described by Levin et al. (1980) was used. Air was pumped through a rotating glass tube filled with a packed bed of Raschig rings (hard glass) to enlarge the surface of the absorbing NaOH solution (200 ml of 4 normal NaOH). The CO2 absorption was quantitative and samples represent mean values of 10 days to 2 weeks. In the laboratory, the samples were extracted from the NaOH solution in a vacuum system by adding hydrochloric or sulfuric acid. The CO2 gas samples were purified over charcoal and counted in a proportional counter (Schoch et al. 1980). Delta 14C values are given relative to the NIST oxalic acid activity corrected for decay (Stuiver and Polach 1970).