Carbon sink

The role of these marshes as a major carbon sink has been determined from the carbon content of the sediment, vertical accretion rates, and the bulk density of the sediment (Smith et al, 1983b). Accretion rates were calculated from depth in sediment of the horizon for 1963, the year of peak Cs fallout (DeLaune et al., 1978). Net carbon accumulation was essentially the same in all three marshes 183, 296, and 224 g C m year from the saltwater, brackish, and freshwater marshes, respectively. A large percentage of hxed carbon, immobilized in accretionary processes, remained on the marshes (Table 18.4). Hatton et al. (1983) found similar carbon accumulation rates in these marshes. 

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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. 

Thompson, M. V., Randerson, J. T., Malmstrom, C. M. and Field, C. B. (1996). Change in net primary production and heterotrophic respiration How much is necessary to sustain the terrestrial carbon sink . Global Biogeochem. Cycles 10, 711-726. 

Synthesis of PHAs in plants can not only be used directly in biotechnology for the creation of novel crop plants, but can also be a utilized as a unique novel tool in the basic studies of plant biochemistry. PHA synthesized in plants acts as a terminal carbon sink, since plants do not have enzymes, such as PHA depolymerases [68], required for degradation of the polymer. The quantity and composition of PHA can thus be used to monitor the quantity and quality of the carbon flux to different pathways. 

Displacing the methane tied up in deep unmineable coal adds another small carbon sink to the portfolio of options and this process is called enhanced coal bed methane recovery. When injected into a coal bed, C02 can replace adsorbed methane. By doing so, coal beds can serve as a C02 reservoir and a source for methane production (Parson and Keith, 1998). This method is attractive in the sense that most of the injected C02 will be immobilized by either physical or chemical adsorption on the coal surface. 

Liu et al. (2008) for the current global flux of 0.13 Pg C yr1 to the continental aquatic ecosystem. In effect, based on the above estimates, the flux of C to groundwater could account for 2% to 12% of the missing carbon sink in the global carbon budget. 

Creating carbon sinks includes planting new forests, which the Kyoto climate treaty encourages. In China, the government has planted tens of millions of acres of trees since the 1970s. This was done to control floods and erosion, but one result has been to soak up almost half a billion tons of carbon. 

Resources such as biomass could provide a clean and sustainable resource for hydrogen production. As with fossil fuels, the processes that produce hydrogen gas from biomass all create carbon dioxide, but because the biomass acts as a carbon sink during the growing phase, the net carbon emission of the whole cycle is neutral. 

The process of tree growth utilizes atmospheric carbon in the production of wood biomass. Furthermore, this sequestered carbon can continue to be held in products that are manufactured from wood. Although much research has been done in investigating forests as actual or potential carbon sinks, there has been rather less work looking at the implications of the use of wood products as a medium-term carbon store. 

Liski, J., Karjalainen, T., Pussinen, A., Nabuurs, G.J. and Kauppi, P. (2000). Trees as carbon sinks and sources in the European Union. Environmental Science and Policy, 3(2-3), 91-97. 

Source From Woods Hole Research Center (2007). The Missing Carbon Sink, http //www.whrc.org/carbon/missingc.htm and Sabine, C. L, et ai. (2004). Science 305, 367-371. Terrestriai net reiease is the difference between a presumed terrestrial sink and known land-use change emissions. 

Carbon dioxide mainly enters the oceans from the atmosphere. It dissolves in the cold surface waters around the north and south poles. When these cold waters sink, they carry the carbon deep into the oceans where it can be stored for hundreds of years. Because of their ability to store carbon, the oceans are known as a carbon sink. The sea as a carbon sink has become increasingly important in recent decades because human activity is adding increasing amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, and much of it ends up in the sea. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), almost half of the carbon added to the atmosphere hy fossil fuel burning ends up sequestered in the ocean. 

Carbon dioxide mainly exits the oceans at the interface with the atmosphere. Warm surface waters easily release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. When warm waters rise to the surface, mainly near the equator, carbon dioxide is transferred from the water to the air. Because of this, the sea is a source of carbon for the carbon cycle as well as a carbon sink. 

Carbon sinks are reservoirs that store carbon atoms and molecules. Earth has many natural carbon sinks that are part of the planets... 

Another way to increase Earth s ability to store carbon is by creating new, artificial carbon sinks that would trap excess carbon gas produced by human activity before it enters the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide would be collected and placed in a new location for controllable, long-term storage. Scientists have already experimented with two new carbon sink locations, one deep in the ocean, the other underground. In each case, carbon is forcefully injected into its new reservoir for long-term storage. 

Carbon sink A place where carbon is stored for long periods of time the oceans are one example of a carbon sink. 

Polysaccharides and generally carbohydrates represent the main carbon sink in the plant cell. Polysaccharides commonly serve nutritional (e.g., starch) and structural (e.g., cellulose) functions in plants. Some polysaccharides are cytotoxic against certain types of cancer, such as mouse skin cancer, or tumor lines in vitro (e.g., mouse Sarcoma-180). However, most polysaccharides exert their action through stimulation of the immune system (cancer immunotherapy). Plants containing polysaccharides with anticancer properties include the following ... 

There is now much emphasis on carbon sequestration, carbon sinks, and carbon footprints, but there is only peripheral awareness of the vast and vital sink that the soil provides for carbon. Few seem to realize that, worldwide, there is more than three times the amount of carbon in SOM than there is in all living matter on the surface of the earth. Depletion of that reserve is more serious than is appreciated... 

Nadelhoffer et al. (1999) showed that the missing sink can be explained neither by the contribution of the ocean nor carbon assimilation by boreal forests of the Northern Hemisphere. It was shown that the existing uncertainty about the volume of carbon sink in forests cannot be reduced by more than 0.25 1015 gCyr-1. In... 

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