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The Oceanic carbon cycle is a central process to the global carbon cycle and contains both inorganic carbon (carbon not associated with a living thing, such as carbon dioxide) and organic carbon (carbon that is, or has been, incorporated into a living thing). Part of the marine carbon cycle transforms carbon between non-living and living matter.
Water is the medium of the oceans, the medium which carries all the substances and elements involved in the marine biogeochemical cycles. Water as found in nature almost always includes dissolved substances, so water has been described as the "universal solvent" for its ability to dissolve so many substances.
What fraction does escape varies depending on the location of interest. For example, in the North Sea, values of carbon deposition are ~1% of primary production [9] while that value is <0.5% in the open oceans on average. [10] Therefore, most of nutrients remain in the water column, recycled by the biota.
Particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) is the other form of inorganic carbon found in the ocean. Most PIC is the CaCO 3 that makes up shells of various marine organisms, but can also form in whiting events. Marine fish also excrete calcium carbonate during osmoregulation. [4]
The surface ocean engages in air-sea interactions and absorbs carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the atmosphere, making the ocean the Earth's largest sink for atmospheric CO 2. Carbon dioxide dissolves in and reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid. Subsequent reactions then produce carbonate (CO 3 2−), bicarbonate (HCO 3 −), and hydrogen (H ...
Carbon dioxide also dissolves directly from the atmosphere into bodies of water (ocean, lakes, etc.), as well as dissolving in precipitation as raindrops fall through the atmosphere. When dissolved in water, carbon dioxide reacts with water molecules and forms carbonic acid, which contributes to ocean acidity. It can then be absorbed by rocks ...
The biological pump depends on the fraction of primary produced organic matter that survives degradation in the euphotic zone and that is exported from surface water to the ocean interior, where it is mineralized to inorganic carbon, with the result that carbon is transported against the gradient of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from the ...
The CCD is relatively shallow in high latitudes with the exception of the North Atlantic and regions of Southern Ocean where downwelling occurs. This downwelling brings young, surface water with relatively low concentrations of carbon dioxide into the deep ocean, depressing the CCD.