Carbon flux

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Top: Increasing atmospheric CO₂ levels as measured in the atmosphere and ice cores. Bottom: The amount of net carbon increase in the atmosphere, compared to carbon emissions from burning fossil fuel.

Carbon flux is an abbreviated phrase used loosely to refer to the net difference between carbon sequestration and carbon respiration. In this usage, carbon (as CO₂) is added to the atmosphere by processes such as respiration, burning of fossil fuels, and volcanic activity. Carbon is removed from the atmosphere by such processes as plant growth, mineral formation, and dissolution into the oceans.

Given the accepted definition of what constitutes a flux, a more appropriate name for the annual difference between carbon sequestration and respiration would be "annual atmospheric carbon accumulation rate" or "annual global integrated surface flux of carbon" or "annual global net carbon flux" .

Annual net carbon flux has been grossly calculated to be close to zero ^[1]. That is, emission and absorption are roughly in balance worldwide. However, an important indication that the balance is tipped toward emission is found in the measured concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Atmospheric concentrations have increased rapidly in the past 100 years ^[2] and are currently higher than any time in the previous 400,000 years ^[3]. These data imply that more carbon is being released than can be absorbed by the planet.

[edit] References

1. ^ Energy Information Administration/Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 1996.
2. ^ Climate Change Attribution.
3. ^ Graph of CO2 concentration measured from the Vostok, Antarctica ice core.

[edit] External links

• The missing carbon sink[1]

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