<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v3.0 20080202//EN" "https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/nlm-dtd/publishing/3.0/journalpublishing3.dtd">
<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" article-type="research-article" specific-use="SMUR" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en">
<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-3338</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Radiocarbon-based source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols over the Athabasca Oil Sands Region in Alberta, Canada</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Niu</surname>
<given-names>Lurui</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1149-4252</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Xu</surname>
<given-names>Xiaomei</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3678-2748</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Wiggins</surname>
<given-names>Elizabeth</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Randerson</surname>
<given-names>James</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Welch</surname>
<given-names>Allison</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2314-7625</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Santos</surname>
<given-names>Guaciara</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Sheesley</surname>
<given-names>Rebecca</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Moffett</surname>
<given-names>Claire</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Czimczik</surname>
<given-names>Claudia</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Department of Environmental Science, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>05</day>
<month>08</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>21</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Lurui Niu et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3338/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3338/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3338/egusphere-2026-3338.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3338/egusphere-2026-3338.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>The Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) hosts one of the world&apos;s largest unconventional fossil fuel operations, producing a complex carbonaceous aerosol mixture: fossil emissions from oil sands operations, biogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from surrounding boreal landscapes, and episodic wildfire emissions, with consequences for regional air quality and climate. Here, we present a first dual-isotope (&lt;sup&gt;14&lt;/sup&gt;C/&amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C) source apportionment of total carbon (TC) and elemental carbon (EC) in PM&lt;sub&gt;2.5&lt;/sub&gt; collected at Fort McKay from May to October 2017. Sampling-day PM&lt;sub&gt;2.5&lt;/sub&gt; ranged 0.8&amp;ndash;20.3 &amp;micro;g m&lt;sup&gt;-3&lt;/sup&gt; (mean 6.9 &amp;plusmn; 4.7, n = 29), versus 0.2&amp;ndash;38.1 &amp;micro;g m&lt;sup&gt;-3&lt;/sup&gt; in the continuous record, indicating that filter sampling did not capture the highest pollution episodes. TC and organic carbon (OC) correlated strongly (Spearman &amp;rho; = 0.89) and positively with temperature (&amp;rho; = 0.67), consistent with biogenic SOA. EC co-varied with NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (&amp;rho; = 0.77) and SO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (&amp;rho; = 0.51), implicating diesel mining fleets and upgrader stacks. During smoke-free periods, fossil fuel combustion dominated TC (mean: 51 %, range: 26&amp;ndash;77 %), with westerly air masses crossing active mining areas more &lt;sup&gt;14&lt;/sup&gt;C-depleted (F&lt;sup&gt;14&lt;/sup&gt;C = 0.58 &amp;plusmn; 0.22) than northerly masses (F&lt;sup&gt;14&lt;/sup&gt;C = 0.63 &amp;plusmn; 0.14). During wildfire-impacted periods, biomass burning was the dominant source (f&lt;sub&gt;bb&lt;/sub&gt; mean: 45 %, range: 9&amp;ndash;76 %). The AOSR exhibited substantially lower summertime F&lt;sup&gt;14&lt;/sup&gt;C values than Arctic and boreal comparison sites during non-fire periods, reflecting persistent local fossil fuel influence. These results provide information that can contribute to an isotopic baseline for emission inventories, atmospheric models, and air quality management in the AOSR.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="21"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Earth Sciences Division</funding-source>
<award-id>TE2014: NNX15AU56A</award-id>
<award-id>TE2014: 80NSSC23K0140</award-id>
<award-id>80NSSC24K1317</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>University of California, Irvine</funding-source>
<award-id>Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs3">
<funding-source>Office of STEM Engagement</funding-source>
<award-id>CalSpace</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
<body/>
<back>
</back>
</article>