Carbon dioxide oceanic

In a similar vein, mean seawater temperatures can be estimated from the ratio of 0 to 0 in limestone. The latter rock is composed of calcium carbonate, laid down from shells of countless small sea creatures as they die and fall to the bottom of the ocean. The ratio of the oxygen isotopes locked up as carbon dioxide varies with the temperature of sea water. Any organisms building shells will fix the ratio in the calcium carbonate of their shells. As the limestone deposits form, the layers represent a chronological description of the mean sea temperature. To assess mean sea temperatures from thousands or millions of years ago, it is necessary only to measure accurately the ratio and use a precalibrated graph that relates temperatures to isotope ratios in sea water. 

Estimates indicate that 10 tons of carbon dioxide are fixed globally per year, of which one-third is fixed in the oceans, primarily by photosynthetic marine microorganisms. 

The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) is the division of NOAA that conducts and directs oceanic and atmospheric research. Since carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and fossil fuels are the leading generator of carbon dioxide, the work of the twelve Environmental Research Laboratories and eleven Joint Institutes of OAR to describe, monitor, and assess climate trends are of great interest to all parties interested in the affect of energy use on climate change. 

Molecules am act one another. Fiuni that simple fact spring fundamentally important consequences. Rivers, lakes, and oceans exist because water molecules attract one another and form a liquid. Without that liquid, there would be no life. Without forces between molecules, our flesh would drip off our bones and the oceans would be gas. Less dramatically, the forces between molecules govern the physical properties of bulk matter and help to account for the differences in the substances around us. They explain why carbon dioxide is a gas that we exhale, why wood is a solid that we can stand on, and why ice floats on water. At very close range, molecules also repel one another. When pressed together, molecules resist further compression. 

Carbonic acid is an important natural component of the environment because it is formed whenever carbon dioxide dissolves in lake water or seawater. In fact, the oceans provide one of the critical mechanisms for maintaining a constant concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbonic acid takes part in two successive proton transfer equilibria ... 

Alternatives to fossil fuels, such as hydrogen, are explored in Box 6.2 and Section 14.3. Coal, which is mostly carbon, can be converted into fuels with a lower proportion of carbon. Its conversion into methane, CH4, for instance, would reduce C02 emissions per unit of energy. We can also work with nature by accelerating the uptake of carbon by the natural processes of the carbon cycle. For example, one proposed solution is to pump C02 exhaust deep into the ocean, where it would dissolve to form carbonic acid and bicarbonate ions. Carbon dioxide can also be removed from power plant exhaust gases by passing the exhaust through an aqueous slurry of calcium silicate to produce harmless solid products ... 

Fan, S., Gloor, M., Mahlman, J., Pacala, S., Sarmiento, ]., Takahashi, T., and Tans, P. (1998). A large terrestrial carbon sink in North America implied by atmospheric and oceanic carbon dioxide data and models. Science 282, 442-446. 

An important example of non-linearity in a biogeochemical cycle is the exchange of carbon dioxide between the ocean surface water and the atmosphere and between the atmosphere and the terrestrial system. To illustrate some effects of these non-linearities, let us consider the simplified model of the carbon cycle shown in Fig. 4-12. Ms represents the sum of all forms of dissolved carbon (CO2, H2CO3, HCOi" and... 

Baes, C. F., Bjdrkstrom, A. and MuIhoUand, P. J. (1985). Uptake of carbon dioxide by the oceans. In "Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and the Global Carbon Cycle" (J. R. Trabalka, ed.). Report DOE/ ER-0239, US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC. 

Millero, F. J. (1995). Thermodynamics of the carbon dioxide system in the ocean. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 59, 661-677. 

Fig. 11-9 (a) The vertical distributions of alkalinity (Aik) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the world oceans. Ocean regions shown are the North Atlantic (NA), South Atlantic (SA), Antarctic (AA), South Indian (SI), North Indian (NI), South Pacific (SP), and North Pacific (NP) oceans. (Modified with permission from T. Takahashi et ah, The alkalinity and total carbon dioxide concentration in the world oceans, in B. Bolin (1981). Carbon Cycle Modelling," pp. 276-277, John Wiley, Chichester.)... 

Fig. 11-16 Partial pressure of CO2 in surface ocean water along the GEOSECS tracks (a) the Atlantic western basin data obtained between August 1972 and January 1973 (b) the central Pacific data along the 180° meridian from October 1973 to February 1974. The dashed line shows atmospheric CO2 for comparison. The equatorial areas of both oceans release CO2 to the atmosphere, whereas the northern North Atlantic is a strong sink for CO2. (Modified with permission from W. S. Broecker et al. (1979). Fate of fossil fuel carbon dioxide and the global carbon budget, Science 206,409 18, AAAS.)...

Fig. 11-18 A four-box model of the global carbon cycle. Reservoir inventories are given in moles and fluxes in mol/yr. The turnover time of CO2 in each reservoir with respect to the outgoing flux is shown in brackets. (Reprinted with permission from L. Machta, The role of the oceans and biosphere in the carbon dioxide cycle, in D. Dryssen and D. Jagner (1972). "The Changing Chemistry of the Oceans," pp. 121-146, John Wiley.)...

Future emissions and concentration of carbon dioxide Key ocean/atmosphere/land analyses. Tech. Pap. 31, Div. of Atmos. Res., Comm. Sci. and Ind. Res. Org., Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 

Keeling, C. D. (1973a). The carbon dioxide cycle. Reservoir models to depict the exchange of atmospheric carbon dioxide with the oceans and land plants. In "Chemistry of the Lower Atmosphere" (S. Rasool, ed.), pp. 251-329. Plenum Press, New York. 

Machta, L. (1972). The role of the oceans and biosphere in the carbon dioxide cycle. In "The Chang-... 

Nakazawa, T., Murayama, S., Miyashita, K., Aoki, S. and Tanaka, M. (1992). Longitudinally different variations of lower tropospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over the North Pacific Ocean, Tellus, Ser. B, 44,161-172. 

Revelle, R. and Suess, H. E. (1957). Carbon dioxide exchange between atmosphere and ocean, and the question of an increase of atmospheric CO2 during the past decades, Tellus 9,18-27. 

Takahashi, T., Broecker, W. S. and Bainbridge, A. E. (1981). The alkalinity and total carbon dioxide concentration in the world oceans. In "Carbon Dioxide Modeling" (B. Bolin, ed.), pp. 271-286. Wiley, New York. 

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