Conference: CFS (Track 1): RadioSolutions: Making Radiocarbon Broadly Available for Natural Climate Solutions

自然气候解决方案（NCS），也被称为基于自然的气候解决方案，代表了减缓气候变化的陆地和沿海海洋管理方案的广泛组合。最近，由于在减少二氧化碳排放方面缺乏成功，对NCS的兴趣有所增强。许多NCS技术试图将大气中的碳转移到土壤和树木等储存碳的生态系统中。不幸的是，测量和验证二氧化碳去除的方法往往是NCS的绊脚石。碳的放射性同位素（14C）是追踪碳进入生态系统的有力工具。从历史上看，14C测量是昂贵且劳动密集型的。最近，一种微型碳测年系统（MICADAS）被开发出来，用于对空气和生态系统中的碳进行重复14C采样。MICADAS具有几个优点，包括较低的成本和样品制备时间。这项工作的目标是探索使该仪器广泛适用于从事NCS研究和开发的科学家的机制。此外，拟议的社区设施将为新从事同位素工作的科学家建立必要的培训模块。这些培训模块将培训科学家在实地取样并分析14C数据，以帮助确定NCS对碳循环的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Natural Climate Solutions (NCS), also referred to as Nature-based Climate Solutions, represent a broad portfolio of land and coastal ocean management options to mitigate climate change. Recently the interest in NCS has intensified due to a lack of success curtailing CO2 emissions. Many of these NCS technologies attempt to move carbon from the atmosphere into parts of ecosystems that store carbon such as soils and trees. Unfortunately, methods to measure and verify CO2 removal are often a NCS stumbling block. The radio isotope of carbon (14C) is a powerful tool to track carbon movement into ecosystems. Historically 14C measurements have been expensive and labor intensive. Recently, a MIni CArbon Dating System (MICADAS) was developed to conduct repeat 14C sampling of carbon in air and ecosystems. The MICADAS offers several advantages including lower costs and sample preparation time. The goal of this work is to explore mechanisms to make this instrument broadly available for scientists engaged in NCS research and development. Furthermore, the proposed community facility would establish training modules necessary for scientists new to isotopic work. These training modules will train scientists to take samples in the field and analyze 14C data to help determine the impact of their NCS on carbon cycling.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.