A new model of cosmogenic production of radiocarbon 14C in the atmosphere

TL;DR

This paper introduces a comprehensive Monte-Carlo model for calculating cosmogenic radiocarbon production in Earth's atmosphere, providing new yield functions and more accurate global production rates for different epochs.

Contribution

The study presents the first tabulated 14C yield function across a wide energy range and revises global production rates using updated cosmic ray spectra.

Findings

Global 14C production rate is 1.64 atoms/cm2/s in modern times.

Pre-industrial 14C production rate is 1.88 atoms/cm2/s.

Solar energetic particles contribute about 0.25% to 14C production.

Abstract

We present the results of full new calculation of radiocarbon 14C production in the Earth atmosphere, using a numerical Monte-Carlo model. We provide, for the first time, a tabulated 14C yield function for the energy of primary cosmic ray particles ranging from 0.1 to 1000 GeV/nucleon. We have calculated the global production rate of 14C, which is 1.64 and 1.88 atoms/cm2/s for the modern time and for the pre-industrial epoch, respectively. This is close to the values obtained from the carbon cycle reservoir inventory. We argue that earlier models overestimated the global 14C production rate because of outdated spectra of cosmic ray heavier nuclei. The mean contribution of solar energetic particles to the global 14C is calculated as about 0.25% for the modern epoch. Our model provides a new tool to calculate the 14C production in the Earth's atmosphere, which can be applied, e.g., to reconstructions of solar activity in the past.