Time: Wednesday 4th March 2026, 10:00-11:00 CET.
Agenda:
- Introduction by Sindu Raj Parampil (Science Integration Officer, ICOS ERIC)
- Samuel Hammer (ICOS Central Radiocarbon Laboratory & Heidelberg University): Constraining European fossil fuel emissions using atmospheric 14CO2 observations
- Discussion and wrap-up
Dr. rer. nat. Samuel Hammer is Head of the ICOS Central Radiocarbon Laboratory (CRL) at Heidelberg University.
Abstract
Atmospheric Δ¹⁴CO₂ provides a direct tracer for fossil fuel CO₂ because fossil emissions contain no radiocarbon. Using the Regional Isotope Budget Approach (RIBA), we assess the information content of ICOS Δ¹⁴CO₂ observations for constraining European fossil fuel emissions. ICOS data independently constrain fossil emissions, with the strongest constraints emerging for Central Western Europe (CWE). The analysis shows that expanding spatial coverage is more important than increasing sampling frequency. In inversion experiments, ICOS observations reduce an artificial ±10% prior bias to approximately ±3–4%. Absolute emission estimates for the CWE domain are within a few per cent of Global Carbon Project bottom-up estimates, but remain sensitive to the assumed Δ¹⁴CO₂ background.
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