Science. 1989 Jul 21;245(4915):286-90. doi: 10.1126/science.245.4915.286.
Measurements of carbon-14 in small samples of methane from major biogenic sources, from biomass burning, and in "clean air" samples from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres reveal that methane from ruminants contains contemporary carbon, whereas that from wetlands, pat bogs, rice fields, and tundra is somewhat, depleted in carbon-14. Atmospheric (14)GH(4) seems to have increased from 1986 to 1987, and levels at the end of 1987 were 123.3 +/- 0.8 percent modern carbon (pMC) in the Northern Hemisphere and 120.0 +/- 0.7 pMC in the Southern Hemisphere. Model calculations of source partitioning based on the carbon-14 data, CH(4) concentrations, and delta(13)C in CH(4) indicate that 21 +/- 3% of atmospheric CH(4) was derived from fossil carbon at the end of 1987. The data also indicate that pressurized water reactors are an increasingly important source of (14)CH(4).
从主要生物源、生物质燃烧以及北半球和南半球的“清洁空气”样本中测量的小样本甲烷中的碳-14 表明，反刍动物产生的甲烷含有当代碳，而湿地、泥炭地、稻田和冻原产生的甲烷则稍微缺乏碳-14。大气（14）GH（4）似乎从 1986 年到 1987 年有所增加，1987 年底北半球的现代碳（pMC）水平为 123.3 +/- 0.8%，南半球为 120.0 +/- 0.7 pMC。基于碳-14 数据、CH（4）浓度和 CH（4）中的 delta（13）C 的源分配模型计算表明，1987 年底大气 CH（4）中有 21 +/- 3%来自化石碳。数据还表明，压水反应堆是（14）CH（4）的一个越来越重要的来源。
