Presents an overview of the global carbon cycle and the links to climate change using current and past changes in the Earth system as an organizing principle

Details the theory and measurement of radiocarbon, an isotope which exists as a unique tracer of carbon age, carbon sources, and rates of carbon cycling within ecosystems and the Earth system

Provides an overview of applications of radiocarbon measurements organized around the major Earth system components: Air, Land, Water, as well as the paleohistory of these systems

Summarizes laboratory techniques regarding sample collection, pretreatment, and radiocarbon measurement

The authors of this book are leading authorities on radiocarbon measurements, and application in the fields of ecology and earth system science. Schuur is a professor at Northern Arizona University and is an expert in terrestrial carbon cycling; Trumbore is a director at the Max Planck Institute for biogeochemistry and is an expert in terrestrial carbon cycling; Druffel is a professor at the University of California, Irvine and is an expert in ocean carbon cycling.