It’s clever entrance and escape Sarah Woodhouse

The Carbon Cycle

Trees breathe too

Into the Sea The ocean alone contains 36,000 giga tons of carbon mostly in the form of bicarbonate ion which aids in the pH balance. Hurricanes and typhoons near the equator wash away sediments resulting in large amounts of carbon being buried.

20,000 leagues under the sea: Circulation in the deep ocean Thermohaline Circulation: circulation below the major wind-driven currents Key factor: density distribution  function of temperature and salinity

We didn’t start the fire Heat entering the ocean from the interior = 0.1% Contributing factors: vents, undersea volcanoes, sea floor spreading Earth geothermally heats the bottom of the ocean creating small scale circulation

Hydrothermal activity releasing CO2 Release rate of CO2 is assumed to be proportional to mean spreading rate Underwater volcanoes release droplets of CO2 Is the amount of CO2 absorbed by the ocean enough to cause a change in global warming?

Air-sea interface NOAA’s project determines CO2 transfer Gas transfer velocity is dependent on small scale surface waves Essentially, gas transfer velocity is a function of wind speed

Let the wind howl U 10 is the wind speed at 10 meters above the surface, k = transfer velocity Taken from various tank and buoy experiments

SINK or swim The ocean acts as a sink to absorb much of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide into the mixed layer Warm surface waters cause stratification which can lead to stagnant waters and a decrease in the uptake of CO2

Sources Knauss Leovy, Jill. (April 29, 2010). Underwater volcanoes discovered off California coast. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from