National Environmental Isotope Facility (NEIF)
Lead Research Organisation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
Department Name: SUERC
Abstract
Radiocarbon is an immensely powerful tool to probe Earth's human and environmental history over the past 50,000 years Radiocarbon science requires infrastructure in order to be at the leading edge, both physical infrastructure such as equipment and laboratories, but as important are the people who provide the expertise, drive method development and new areas of application, and develop systems to ensure data are accessible, interoperable and reusable. The requirements for radiocarbon in environmental sciences necessitate delivery of fundamental capabilities at a national level for the following reasons: (1) breadth of community need for fundamental radiocarbon analyses; (2) the substantial continued investment, both instruments and people, required to be at the leading edge; and (3) the capacity of delivery demanded by the UK research portfolio. Where these requirements exist, national facilities are a demonstrably cost-effective mechanism to deliver and underpin environmental science research and innovation, now and in the future.
The Facility will operate to underpin the UKs environmental research community in areas where radiocarbon analyses are required, facilitating, supporting and encouraging the best research, technology and new ideas. The capabilities and expertise delivered by the Facility are either technically unique within the UK and/or are delivered at a high-standard and capacity and cannot be effectively delivered without national support, and crucially represent long-term value.
The benefits of a national facility are that it will be greater than the sum of its parts. In addition to the direct support of projects and provision of training, sustained support best fit the needs of the project leaders and provide facility staff with a longer-term perspective and understanding of where the major challenges and opportunities are in order to best service the environmental science community. The Facility represents a major forward-looking evolution in the provision of radiocarbon capabilities and expertise for the UK research community in the 21st century, providing increased community innovation and flexibility, whilst retaining the core purpose of underpinning UK science with internationally competitive, state-of-the-art capabilities and expertise.
The Facility will operate to underpin the UKs environmental research community in areas where radiocarbon analyses are required, facilitating, supporting and encouraging the best research, technology and new ideas. The capabilities and expertise delivered by the Facility are either technically unique within the UK and/or are delivered at a high-standard and capacity and cannot be effectively delivered without national support, and crucially represent long-term value.
The benefits of a national facility are that it will be greater than the sum of its parts. In addition to the direct support of projects and provision of training, sustained support best fit the needs of the project leaders and provide facility staff with a longer-term perspective and understanding of where the major challenges and opportunities are in order to best service the environmental science community. The Facility represents a major forward-looking evolution in the provision of radiocarbon capabilities and expertise for the UK research community in the 21st century, providing increased community innovation and flexibility, whilst retaining the core purpose of underpinning UK science with internationally competitive, state-of-the-art capabilities and expertise.
Publications
Paul A
(2022)
Stocks and biogeochemical cycling of soil-derived nutrients in an ultramafic rain forest in New Caledonia
in Forest Ecology and Management
Tipping E
(2022)
Relationships between riverine and terrestrial dissolved organic carbon: Concentration, radiocarbon signature, specific UV absorbance.
in The Science of the total environment
Becerra-Valdivia L
(2022)
A chronology for the earliest human burials at Cuchipuy, central Chile
in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Faust JC
(2021)
Millennial scale persistence of organic carbon bound to iron in Arctic marine sediments.
in Nature communications
Montoya E
(2021)
Forests protect aquatic communities from detrimental impact by volcanic deposits in the tropical Andes (Ecuador)
in Regional Environmental Change
Briones MJI
(2021)
No evidence for increased loss of old carbon in a temperate organic soil after 13 years of simulated climatic warming despite increased CO2 emissions.
in Global change biology
Rush Graham Phillip
(2021)
Rapid sea-level rise and climate change : lessons from the early Holocene
Pearson M
(2021)
The original Stonehenge? A dismantled stone circle in the Preseli Hills of west Wales
in Antiquity
Simms A
(2021)
Evidence for a "Little Ice Age" glacial advance within the Antarctic Peninsula - Examples from glacially-overrun raised beaches
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Preskienis V
(2021)
Seasonal patterns in greenhouse gas emissions from lakes and ponds in a High Arctic polygonal landscape
in Limnology and Oceanography
Hajdas I
(2021)
Radiocarbon dating
in Nature Reviews Methods Primers
Soulet G
(2021)
Temperature control on CO2 emissions from the weathering of sedimentary rocks
in Nature Geoscience
Bermingham A
(2021)
Island resource exploitation by the ancient Maya during periods of climate stress, Ambergris Caye, Belize
in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Lin Y
(2021)
A reconciled solution of Meltwater Pulse 1A sources using sea-level fingerprinting.
in Nature communications
Schulting R
(2021)
Six centuries of adaptation to a challenging island environment: AMS 14C dating and stable isotopic analysis of pre-Columbian human remains from the Bahamian archipelago reveal dietary trends
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Silva A
(2021)
A closer look at the forgotten bones of the Dolmen of Pedras Grandes (Odivelas, Portugal). (Examining old human remains 7). UN RECORRIDO POR LOS HUESOS OLVIDADOS DEL DOLMEN DE PEDRAS GRANDES (ODIVELAS, PORTUGAL)
in SPAL. Revista de Prehistoria y ArqueologÃa de la Universidad de Sevilla
Bell B
(2021)
Palynological evidence from a sub-alpine marsh of enhanced Little Ice Age snowpack in the Marrakech High Atlas, North Africa
in Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
Mackay H
(2021)
Spatial variation of hydroclimate in north-eastern North America during the last millennium
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Gonzalez Moguel R
(2021)
Radiocarbon Data Reveal Contrasting Sources for Carbon Fractions in Thermokarst Lakes and Rivers of Eastern Canada (Nunavik, Quebec)
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
Allington M
(2021)
Obtaining archaeointensity data from British Neolithic pottery: A feasibility study
in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Loughlin N
(2021)
Insights into past land-use and vegetation change in the Llanos de Moxos (Bolivia) using fungal non-pollen palynomorphs
in Journal of Archaeological Science
Prater C
(2021)
Landscape Controls on Nutrient Stoichiometry Regulate Lake Primary Production at the Margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet
in Ecosystems
Garnett M
(2021)
A HIGHLY PORTABLE AND INEXPENSIVE FIELD SAMPLING KIT FOR RADIOCARBON ANALYSIS OF CARBON DIOXIDE
in Radiocarbon
Orr T
(2021)
Improved pretreatment method for the isolation and decontamination of pyrogenic carbon for radiocarbon dating using hydrogen pyrolysis
in Quaternary Geochronology
Hocking E
(2021)
Geological evidence of an unreported historical Chilean tsunami reveals more frequent inundation
in Communications Earth & Environment
Frederikse T
(2021)
Constraining 20th-Century Sea-Level Rise in the South Atlantic Ocean
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Haig J
(2020)
A rapid throughput technique to isolate pyrogenic carbon by hydrogen pyrolysis for stable isotope and radiocarbon analysis.
in Rapid communications in mass spectrometry : RCM
Becerra-Valdivia L
(2020)
Challenges in sample processing within radiocarbon dating and their impact in 14C-dates-as-data studies
in Journal of Archaeological Science
Lougheed B
(2020)
Re-evaluating 14 C dating accuracy in deep-sea sediment archives
in Geochronology
Heaton T
(2020)
Marine20-The Marine Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0-55,000 cal BP)
in Radiocarbon
Sear DA
(2020)
Human settlement of East Polynesia earlier, incremental, and coincident with prolonged South Pacific drought.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Tarlati S
(2020)
Final deglaciation of the Malin Sea through meltwater release and calving events
in Scottish Journal of Geology
Verity R
(2020)
Estimates of the severity of COVID-19 disease
Garnett M
(2020)
Radiocarbon analysis reveals that vegetation facilitates the release of old methane in a temperate raised bog
in Biogeochemistry
Blong J
(2020)
Younger Dryas and early Holocene subsistence in the northern Great Basin: multiproxy analysis of coprolites from the Paisley Caves, Oregon, USA
in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Newsham KK
(2020)
A Previously Undescribed Helotialean Fungus That Is Superabundant in Soil Under Maritime Antarctic Higher Plants.
in Frontiers in microbiology
Corrick EC
(2020)
Synchronous timing of abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Forbes V
(2020)
A sub-centennial, Little Ice Age climate reconstruction using beetle subfossil data from Nunalleq, southwestern Alaska
in Quaternary International
Reade H
(2020)
Deglacial landscapes and the Late Upper Palaeolithic of Switzerland
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Reade H
(2020)
Radiocarbon chronology and environmental context of Last Glacial Maximum human occupation in Switzerland.
in Scientific reports
Gosling W
(2020)
Human occupation and ecosystem change on Upolu (Samoa) during the Holocene
in Journal of Biogeography
Davis LG
(2020)
Response to Comment on "Late Upper Paleolithic occupation at Cooper's Ferry, Idaho, USA, ~16,000 years ago".
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
D'Alpoim Guedes J
(2020)
Three thousand years of farming strategies in central Thailand
in Antiquity
Reimer P
(2020)
The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0-55 cal kBP)
in Radiocarbon
Dumont M
(2020)
The nature of deep overturning and reconfigurations of the silicon cycle across the last deglaciation.
in Nature communications
Ascough P
(2020)
Chemical Characteristics of Macroscopic Pyrogenic Carbon Following Millennial-Scale Environmental Exposure
in Frontiers in Environmental Science
Bronk Ramsey C
(2020)
Reanalysis of the Atmospheric Radiocarbon Calibration Record from Lake Suigetsu, Japan
in Radiocarbon
Fitzpatrick A
(2020)
A FACE FROM THE BRITISH IRON AGE: A DECORATED IRON AGE WEAVING COMB FROM HARWELL, OXFORDSHIRE
in Oxford Journal of Archaeology
| Description | Radiocarbon dating is the most versatile technique for scientists seeking to precisely date the timing of events and rates of processes in the history of humans and earth systems over the last 50,000 years. Natural abundance and 'bomb' radiocarbon also have wide applications in quantifying the movement of carbon in the environment. The NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory (a component of NEIF- National Environmental Isotope Facility) is internationally recognised and supports, participates in and initiates globally competitive science. This provides a comprehensive service for the NERC research community, including Universities and NERC Centres (e.g. BGS, CEH, BAS, NOC) across a wide range of science areas, including Earth, Marine, Terrestrial and Freshwater, Atmospheric and Polar Science and Science-based Archaeology: • Expertise across a wide spectrum of radiocarbon techniques & applications • Specialist advice at all stages of projects from project inception, applications and grant proposals, field sampling, sample storage and preparation, to data interpretation and publication • Technical developments, often developed collaboratively, to provide leading edge and unique research opportunities to UK researchers • Access to state-of-the art equipment, including cutting-edge AMS analytical equipment (the newly-installed MICADAS and PIMS technology) • Training of students and visiting researchers, including project-customised practical laboratory experience and residential radiocarbon courses |
| Exploitation Route | The Facility exists to provide analytical support and scientific expertise for NERC approved projects throughout the UK. Therefore all the findings relate to these projects (c 50-60 per year). The Facility also continuously develops new methods in order to provide UK scientists with cutting-edge techniques for the radiocarbon applications in their projects. Examples include compound-specific amino-acid dating for archaeological bones, novel sampling methods to enable NERC science in otherwise inaccessible, remote and challenging environments, and speciation of organic carbon in complex environmental matrices via techniques available in only a very few (or no) other locations worldwide. |
| Sectors | Environment Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |