W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility

W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility
Name	W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility
Established	1990s
Location	University of California, Irvine
Director	Samuel P. Hamilton
Affiliation	University of California, Irvine

W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility The W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility is a laboratory specializing in radiocarbon measurement and geochemical analysis using accelerator mass spectrometry. The facility supports research across paleoclimatology, biogeochemistry, archaeology, and Earth system science through precision isotopic measurements and interdisciplinary collaborations.

Overview

The facility operates within the context of major research centers such as the University of California, Irvine, the W.M. Keck Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the American Geophysical Union, and the European Geosciences Union. It serves investigators from institutions including University of California, Santa Barbara, University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Stanford University. Core capabilities emphasize radiocarbon dating, isotope tracer studies, sample preparation for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, and support for projects connected to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Smithsonian Institution, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers.

History and Funding

Founded with philanthropic support from the W.M. Keck Foundation alongside grants from the National Science Foundation and cooperative agreements with the U.S. Department of Energy, the facility expanded through partnerships with the University of California system and benefitted from capital investments linked to initiatives like the Keck Observatory funding model. Key historical milestones include instrument acquisitions in parallel with developments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Brookhaven National Laboratory. Major donors and programmatic partners have included the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Defense, and United States Geological Survey.

Facilities and Instrumentation

Instrumentation mirrors standards set at national laboratories such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory and includes tandem accelerators, gas ion sources, and sample preparation cleanrooms comparable to those at PaleoCarbon Center and National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility. Equipment lists align with vendors and technologies used by National Renewable Energy Laboratory collaborators and include systems for graphite target preparation, CO2 gas handling, and automated graphitization inspired by methods from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory. The lab maintains QA/QC workflows consistent with protocols from International Atomic Energy Agency, American Society for Mass Spectrometry, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidance.

Research Programs and Applications

Research programs address questions in paleoclimate reconstruction, carbon cycling, and anthropogenic impact assessment, interacting with frameworks from the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project, Ocean Drilling Program, and International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. Applications include radiocarbon calibration using curves associated with IntCal, organic carbon turnover studies relevant to Atmospheric Radiation Measurement, and archaeological chronology linked to work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum, National Museum of Natural History, and university archaeology departments such as Yale University and University of Cambridge. Environmental forensics projects collaborate with Environmental Protection Agency laboratories, while ecosystem studies coordinate with U.S. Forest Service, Nature Conservancy, and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Collaborations and Partnerships

The facility collaborates with university laboratories (e.g., University of Arizona, University of Washington, University of Texas at Austin), federal laboratories (e.g., NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center), and international institutes such as Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, École Normale Supérieure, and University of Copenhagen. Project partnerships have connected with initiatives like Arctic Council research programs, International Arctic Science Committee, Global Carbon Project, and regional programs at California Institute of Technology and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Education, Training, and Outreach

Training programs include hands-on accelerator mass spectrometry instruction for graduate students from institutions like California State University, Long Beach, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, and visiting scholars from University of British Columbia and McGill University. Outreach involves public seminars in collaboration with museums such as the Discovery Cube Orange County and joint workshops with professional societies including the Geological Society of America and the Society for American Archaeology. The facility contributes to curriculum modules used by programs at California Community Colleges System and supports fellowships linked to the Fulbright Program and Humboldt Foundation exchanges.

Notable Projects and Publications

Notable projects have included radiocarbon chronologies for Holocene climate events, carbon sequestration studies relevant to Paris Agreement reporting, and archaeological dating campaigns aligned with excavations under the auspices of National Endowment for the Humanities grants and collaborations with the Peabody Museum of Natural History. Publications drawing on facility data appear in journals such as Nature, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, and Radiocarbon. Principal investigators and coauthors have affiliations including University of California, Irvine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Columbia University, and University of Oxford.

Category:Laboratories Category:Radiocarbon dating Category:University of California, Irvine