1. Climate and the Carbon Cycle Gretchen Keppel-Aleks California Institute of Technology 16 October 2010

2. (LeQuere 2009) Land exchange ~120 Ocean exchange ~70 Fossil Fuel Source ~8 Land Uptake ~3 Ocean Uptake ~2 fluxes [PgC yr -1 ] Carbon is transported through natural reservoirs: the atmosphere, the biosphere, and the ocean The Global Carbon Cycle Atmosphere Ocean Biosphere

3. Earth’s Carbon Cycle Respiration Decomposition Photosynthesis NOAA ESRL Fluxes between the biosphere and the atmosphere set the seasonal patterns in atmospheric CO 2

4. Earth’s Carbon Cycle Atmospheric CO 2 RespirationPhotosynthesis

5. Earth’s Carbon Cycle Atmospheric CO 2 Temperature RespirationPhotosynthesis ? Feedbacks between climate and the carbon cycle affect natural fluxes of CO 2

6. Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Atmospheric CO 2 Temperature RespirationPhotosynthesis Humidity, Precipitation,Regional Climate ? ? ? Feedbacks between climate and the carbon cycle affect natural fluxes of CO 2

7. Changes in the concentration of atmospheric CO 2 impact the ocean (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007, Doney et al., 2009) Ocean CO 2 and Acidification

8. Changes in the concentration of atmospheric CO 2 impact the ocean (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007, Doney et al., 2009) Ocean CO 2 and Acidification

9. Climate - Carbon Cycle Links Carbon is present in natural reservoirs (atmosphere, ocean, biosphere) The growth of carbon in the atmospheric reservoir is the major contributor to climate change Climate change will affect the cycling of carbon through natural reservoirs Understanding carbon cycle feedbacks is crucial to predicting future climate