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Atmospheric gas concentrations over the past century measured in air from firn at the South Pole

Nature volume 383, pages 231–235 (1996)Cite this article

Abstract

The extraction and analysis of air from the snowpack (firn) at the South Pole provides atmospheric concentration histories of biogenic greenhouse gases since the beginning of the present century which confirm and expand on those derived from studies of air trapped in ice cores. Furthermore, calculations based on the inferred atmospheric concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide indicate that–in contrast to the past few years—the terrestrial biosphere was neither a source nor sink of C02 between ˜1977 and 1985.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, Rhode Island, 02882, USA

    M. Battle, M. Bender & J. T. Ellis

  2. Geosciences Department, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802, USA

    T. Sowers

  3. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, 80303, USA

    P. P. Tans, J. H. Butler, J. W. Elkins, T. Conway, N. Zhang, P. Lang & A. D. Clarket

  4. Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309, USA

    N. Zhang & A. D. Clarket

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  1. M. Battle
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Battle, M., Bender, M., Sowers, T. et al. Atmospheric gas concentrations over the past century measured in air from firn at the South Pole. Nature 383, 231–235 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/383231a0

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