e-foldingtime 17.2 years
The "bomb spike" e-folding lifetime is a little over 20 years. When it is mistakenly reported as 16-17 years, it's usually due to failure to account for the Suess Effect. When 14C-depleted fossil carbon is added to the atmosphere, that reduces Δ14C without reducing the total amount of carbon in the atmosphere. That's explained in (Burton 2024).
e-folding time 17.2 years
The "bomb spike" e-folding lifetime is a little over 20 years. When it is mistakenly reported as 16-17 years, it's usually due to failure to account for the Suess Effect. When 14C-depleted fossil carbon is added to the atmosphere, that reduces Δ14C without reducing the total amount of carbon in the atmosphere. That's explained in (Burton 2024).