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Lupton & Evans 2004
Lupton, J. and Evans, L. (2004). The atmospheric helium isotope ratio: Is it changing?. Geophysical Research Letters 31: doi: 10.1029/2004GL020041. issn: 0094-8276.

We have compared the helium isotope ratio of samples of Pacific marine air collected over the 30-year period from 1973 to 2003 against a secondary geothermal gas standard and also against a running air standard. The results are consistent with zero rate of change for atmospheric 3He/4He. When the errors are taken into account, the rate of change in the air 3He/4He ratio is between -0.0102 and +0.0019 %/year. At the most this corresponds to a 0.3% change in the air 3He/4He ratio over the past 3 decades, which is at or below the detection limit of most laboratories. While there may be a small decrease in air 3He/4He due to anthropogenic release of 4He associated with use of fossil fuels, this decrease is not large enough to prevent the use of air helium as an isotopic standard.

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Abstract

Keywords
Geochemistry, Isotopic composition/chemistry, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, General or miscellaneous, Information Related to Geographic Region, Europe, General or Miscellaneous, Instruments useful in three or more fields
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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