Presents an overview of the global carbon cycle and the links to climate change using current and past changes in the Earth system as an organizing principle Details the theory and measurement of radiocarbon, an isotope which exists as a unique tracer of carbon age, carbon sources, and rates of carbon cycling within ecosystems and the Earth system Provides an overview of applications of radiocarbon measurements organized around the major Earth system components: Air, Land, Water, as well as the paleohistory of these systems Summarizes laboratory techniques regarding sample collection, pretreatment, and radiocarbon measurement