Investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the atmospheric 14 C trend and fossil carbon load at urban and background sites in Hungary

Baráth, Balázs Áron and Varga, Tamás and Major, István and Haszpra, László and Vargas Espin, Danny Fernando and Barcza, Zoltán and Molnár, Mihály (2025) Investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the atmospheric 14 C trend and fossil carbon load at urban and background sites in Hungary. RADIOCARBON, 67 (2). pp. 251-264. ISSN 0033-8222

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Abstract

The study analyses in situ CO 2 mole fraction, 14 CO 2 , and fossil based excess CO 2 mole fraction (C foss ) data at Hegyhátsál (HUN) rural monitoring station (Central Europe) supplemented by passive monitoring of 14 C content of tree-rings. Through the observed period (2014–2020) we focused on revealing trends in atmospheric CO 2 and 14 C levels, particularly during the year of the first COVID lockdown, in comparison to the preceding five years. In addition, monthly integrated samples of atmospheric CO 2 and tree-rings from the six years were subjected to 14 C analysis. The passive tree-ring measurements focuses on two major urban areas (Budapest and Debrecen) in Hungary, along with the rural monitoring site. Results show a steady increase in CO 2 levels at HUN between 2014 and 2020. The calculated fossil based excess CO 2 concentrations for the initial year of COVID are in good agreement with the previous five-year averages both at 115 m and 10 m elevations. These results also show seasonal variations of CO 2 mole fractions, peaking in winter and decreasing in summer. Tree-ring results from Debrecen show a good alignment with the results of the atmospheric monitoring station, and it does not show a significant fossil contribution in the urban background area during the vegetation periods. Tree-ring results from Budapest show a stronger fossil contribution compared to the Debrecen ones. Our atmospheric CO 2 results do not show a large decrease in fossil CO 2 atmospheric contribution during the first lockdown. We found that the use of this passive CO 2 monitoring technique can provide a valuable tool for investigating such differences.

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