RADIOCARBON IN THE AIR OF CENTRAL EUROPE: LONG-TERM INVESTIGATIONS

Regional levels of radiocarbon have been monitored in order to investigate the impact of fossil fuel combustion on the activity of atmospheric (14)CO(2) in central Europe. Data from atmospheric (14)CO(2) monitoring stations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary for the period 2000-2008 are presented and discussed. The Prague and Bratislava monitoring stations showed a distinct local Suess effect when compared to the Jungfraujoch clean-air monitoring station. However, during the summer period, statistically insignificant differences were observed between the low-altitude stations and the high-mountain Jungfraujoch station. (14)C data from the Hungarian monitoring locality at Dunafoldvar and the Czech monitoring station at Kosetice, which are not strongly affected by local fossil CO(2) sources, indicate similar grouping and amplitudes, typical for a regional Suess effect.