What is it about?
Nuclear bombs detonated in the 1950s and 1960s created a radiocarbon signal that can be found in reef-builing coral today. This signal was used to describe characteristics of how bomb-produced radiocarbon entered the North Pacific Ocean and was transported by currents. This record can also be used to determine how long marine organisms can live.
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Why is it important?
The Hawaiian Archipelago, and the coral reefs associated with it, have provided a basis for describing long-term circulation processes. This record is currently in use for determining the age of fishes from Hawaii that are commercially important.
Perspectives
This study was initially aimed at establishing a chronometer for bomb radiocarbon dating of regional fishes, but became a more involved study that led to some interesting research on the regional oceanography.
Dr Allen H Andrews
NOAA Fisheries - Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Bomb Radiocarbon and the Hawaiian Archipelago: Coral, Otoliths, and Seawater, Radiocarbon, May 2016, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/rdc.2016.32.
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