National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
United States Department of Commerce


 

FY 2014

Global Carbon Cycle

Sabine, C.L.

In Encyclopedia of Life Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0003489.pub2, doi:10.1002/9780470015902.a0003489.pub2 (2014)


Despite the low concentrations in the atmosphere relative to nitrogen or oxygen, carbon dioxide (CO2) plays a significant role in the Earth’s life cycle and in controlling the global climate. The positive and negative feedback mechanisms associated with the exchange of atmospheric carbon with the ocean and organic material found on the land surface (called the terrestrial biosphere) appear to have been relatively well balanced for most of humankind’s existence. Since the beginning of the industrial era, however, humans have been extracting fossil carbon from the Earth’s interior and combusting it for energy production. Much of this fossil carbon is converted to CO2 gas and released into the environment where it is altering the carbon balance between the atmosphere, ocean and terrestrial biosphere. Recent changes observed in the global climate are consistent with the predicted response to increasing CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.



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