Coupling of biogeochemical cycles and climate

The Coupling of Biogeochemical Cycles and Climate Forcings, Feedbacks, and Responses... 

Keeping in mind the entire set of components in the climate system as depicted in Figs 17-2,4-13, and 17-3, we can now re-examine Fig. 1-2 to emphasize that biogeochemical cycles are coupled with the climate system. The temperature (as inferred from the record of the deuterium to hydrogen ratio in Antarctic ice) covaries with CO2, CH4 and other species that derive from biological processes. Two simple, if extreme, possibilities can be drawn ... 

Mackenzie, F. T., Ver, L. M., and Lerman, A. (1998). Coupled biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and sulfur in the land—ocean—atmosphere system. In Asian Change in the Context of Global Climate Change (Galloway, J. N., and MeUUo, J. M., eds.) Cambridge University Press, pp. 42—100. 

Increases in the atmospheric concentration of long-lived greenhouse gases since the preindustrial era have led to a climate forcing of about 2.5 W m - (IPCC, 1996). The interannual variability in this trend is not well understood and involves complex interactive processes between the atmosphere, the ocean, and the continental biosphere. Coupled earth system models with a detailed representation of global biogeochemical cycles will help address these issues. 

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