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Water and Carbon Cycles

Ocean and atmosphere exchange and the slow carbon cycle

  • 2 things to know
  • Component 2

Overview

Physical or solubility pump, biological pump and carbonate pump.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

How does carbon dioxide move between the atmosphere and the ocean?

Key term

Why do cold oceans absorb more carbon dioxide than warm ones?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How does carbon dioxide move between the atmosphere and the ocean?

    Model answer

    Carbon dioxide diffuses across the sea surface from the higher partial pressure towards the lower. Around 90 gigatonnes of carbon crosses in each direction every year.

  2. 2

    Why do cold oceans absorb more carbon dioxide than warm ones?

    Model answer

    Gases are more soluble in cold water than in warm water. High-latitude seas therefore act as strong absorbers while tropical seas release carbon dioxide.

  3. 3

    Describe the physical or solubility pump.

    Model answer

    Cold, dense surface water rich in dissolved carbon dioxide sinks at high latitudes. Thermohaline circulation carries that carbon into the deep ocean for centuries.

  4. 4

    Describe the biological pump.

    Model answer

    Phytoplankton in the surface ocean fix carbon dioxide by photosynthesis. Dead cells and faecal pellets sink as marine snow, carrying carbon to the deep sea floor.

  5. 5

    How does absorption by biota move carbon within the ocean?

    Model answer

    Marine organisms take up dissolved carbon to build tissue and carbonate shells. Predation and death transfer that carbon down through the food web and towards the sediments.

  6. 6

    Describe the carbonate pump.

    Model answer

    Corals, molluscs and plankton build shells of calcium carbonate from dissolved carbon. Shells sinking to the sea floor accumulate as carbonate sediment.

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Water and Carbon Cycles

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