A Note on Reporting of Reservoir ¹⁴C Disequilibria and Age Offsets

Abstract

Abstract Reservoir age offsets are widely used to correct marine and speleothem radiocarbon age measurements for various calibration purposes. They also serve as a powerful tracer for carbon cycle dynamics. However, a clear terminology regarding reservoir age offsets is lacking, sometimes leading to miscalculations. This note seeks to provide consistent conventions for reporting reservoir 14 C disequilibria useful to a broad range of environmental sciences. This contribution introduces the F 14 R and δ 14 R metrics to express the relative 14 C disequilibrium between two contemporaneous reservoirs and the R metric as the associated reservoir age offset.