Compilation of Marine Radiocarbon Bomb-Pulse from the Temperate North Atlantic Using Annually-Resolved Time-Series From Arctica islandica

Radiocarbon measurements from increments of annually-banded corals covering the past 60 years from sub- tropical and tropical contexts provide valuable records of the marine expression of the atmospheric excess radiocarbon "bomb-pulse". These records can be used as calibration series for high-resolution post- bomb radiocarbon dating and constitute tracers for identifying watermass age and mixing processes. Hitherto such applications have been restricted in temperate shelf seas because of the lack of widespread measurements from annually-resolved archives. Here we present a compilation of bomb-pulse data from annual growth increments of the shallow marine bivalve mollusc Arctica islandica from sites across the temperate North Atlantic (Georges Bank, north Icelandic shelf, north Norway, North Sea). The temporal response is highly correlated at all sites, but the amplitude of the bomb-pulse varies, with the highest values attained in the North Sea and the most damped response on the north Icelandic shelf. These differences can be attributed to the integrated hydrographic context of these sites (entrainment of deep, old water; rates of air-sea exchange; fluvial runoff). The north Icelandic data contain a reversal in the rising limb of the bomb- pulse which is not present elsewhere, even in the more sensitive sites. This reversal correlates with instrumental data characterising the Great Salinity Anomaly of the 1960s when old (deltaR = + 200 years), cold and relatively fresh East Icelandic Current flooded the north Icelandic shelf as a result of southward migration of the Polar Front. The bomb-pulse radiocarbon proxy is therefore a sensitive proxy for hydrographic variability. Further applications of these data will be discussed.