Carbon Cycling
• Conservation of Mass
• Energy Flow and Transformation
• Human Interactions
• Earth System Science
Carbon
Buckminster Fullerene
• Fourth most abundant
•
•
•
•
element in the
universe
Basis for life
4 bonds
Forms complex
molecules
Gaseous form
Photosynthesis
• Where does the mass of a
•
tree come from?
CO2 + H2OCH2O + O2
Global Carbon Cycle
Greenhouse Gas. (n.d.). Retrieved June 14, 2010, from http://www.globalgreenhouse-warming.com/global-carbon-cycle.html
Global Productivity
Image courtesy of NASA
Productivity
Productivity
Terrestrial Ecosystems
Swamps and marshes
Tropical Rain Forest
Temperate Forest
Northern Coniferous Forest (taiga)
Savanna
Agricultural Land
Woodland and Shrubland
Temperate Grassland
Tundra (arctic and alpine)
Desert Sceub
Extreme Desert
Aquatic Ecosystems
Estuaries
Lakes and strems
Continental Shelf
Open Ocean
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
Average net primary productivity (kcal/m2yr)
Figure by UMB OpenCourseWare
8000
9000
10000
Primary Producers
Respiration
• Mitochondria, bacteria, fires, combustion
engines
• O2 + CH2OCO2 + H2O
• Fossil Fuels burned at 20,000 times
natural rates of oxidation
Global Carbon Cycle
Greenhouse Gas. (n.d.). Retrieved June 14, 2010, from http://www.globalgreenhouse-warming.com/global-carbon-cycle.html
Atmospheric Measurements
“Missing Sink” of Atmospheric CO2
(in Gigatons Carbon—1015gmC)
• Fossil Fuel Burning
• Deforestation
=6.0+/- 0.5
=0.9+/-0.7
• Atmospheric Increase
• Oceanic Uptake
• “Missing Sink”
=3.2+/-0.1
=2.0 +/-0.8
=1.7 +/1.2
Mass Balance
• Total mass is always conserved
• Each element is also conserved in a closed
system
• Can you design a closed system that is
sustainable indefinitely?
• Eco-sphere.com
Cycles are linked
• CO2 + H2O CH2O + O2
• Carbon goes up
• Oxygen goes down
Biosphere 2
• http://www.b2sci
ence.org/
• 7 people, O2 began
•
to drop
Why?
News
• http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2009/09/2
•
•
•
•
•
3/artificial_noses_have_the_scent_of_promise/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440
104574406681308037234.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090921/sc_nm/us_usa_
giantsquid
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8266500.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8267686.stm
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2009/09/2
3/at_un_summit_obama_promises_action_on_climate/