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Comments on the role of oceanic biota as a sink for anthropogenic CO 2 emissions
Author(s) -
Smith S. V.,
Mackenzie F. T.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/91gb01384
Subject(s) - phytoplankton , biota , sink (geography) , environmental science , carbon sink , carbon sequestration , oceanography , biological pump , fossil fuel , settling , carbon dioxide , ecology , climate change , environmental engineering , geology , nutrient , geography , biology , cartography
In a letter published in Issues in Science and Technology, Revelle [1990] comments that one of the principal sinks for atmospheric carbon is probably phytoplankton production in the ocean. Revellegoes on to state (p. 21‐22). This process (that of phytoplankton growth and death, followed by settling of organic carbon out of the surface ocean to depth; the so‐called “biological pump”) could account for the sequestration of at least a billion tons of carbon of the total of five billion or six billion produced annually by fossil fuel consumption and biological activity.