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
Chapman J
(2019)
The Origins of Trypillia Megasites
in Frontiers in Digital Humanities
Cassidy LM
(2020)
A dynastic elite in monumental Neolithic society.
in Nature
Campeau A
(2019)
Current forest carbon fixation fuels stream CO2 emissions.
in Nature communications
Callard S
(2020)
Oscillating retreat of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet on the continental shelf offshore Galway Bay, western Ireland
in Marine Geology
Bronk Ramsey C
(2020)
Reanalysis of the Atmospheric Radiocarbon Calibration Record from Lake Suigetsu, Japan
in Radiocarbon
Bronk Ramsey C
(2019)
The Importance of Open Access to Chronological Information: The IntChron Initiative
in Radiocarbon
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
Briones M
(2020)
Substrate quality and not dominant plant community determines the vertical distribution and C assimilation of enchytraeids in peatlands
in Functional Ecology
Brace S
(2019)
Ancient genomes indicate population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain.
in Nature ecology & evolution
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
Blanz M
(2020)
Identifying seaweed consumption by sheep using isotope analysis of their bones and teeth: Modern reference d13C and d15N values and their archaeological implications
in Journal of Archaeological Science
Billett M
(2020)
An assessment of chamber 14 C methodologies for sampling aquatic CO 2 evasion
in Ecohydrology
Biagi P
(2020)
Early Neolithic Settlement of the Po Plain (Northern Italy) Vhò and Related Sites
in Documenta Praehistorica
Bermingham A
(2021)
Island resource exploitation by the ancient Maya during periods of climate stress, Ambergris Caye, Belize
in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Belousova N
(2020)
The Early Upper Palaeolithic bone industry of the Central Altai, Russia: new evidence from the Kara-Bom site
in Antiquity
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
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
Becerra-Valdivia L
(2022)
A chronology for the earliest human burials at Cuchipuy, central Chile
in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Avery R
(2019)
A new varve sequence from Windermere, UK, records rapid ice retreat prior to the Lateglacial Interstadial (GI-1)
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Ascough P
(2020)
Chemical Characteristics of Macroscopic Pyrogenic Carbon Following Millennial-Scale Environmental Exposure
in Frontiers in Environmental Science
Ardelean C
(2020)
Evidence of human occupation in Mexico around the Last Glacial Maximum
in Nature
Allington M
(2021)
Obtaining archaeointensity data from British Neolithic pottery: A feasibility study
in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
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 |