The carbon cycle

Processes - photosythesis, respiration, diffusion, soil respiration, sinking, rock cycle, weathering and erosion, burning fossil fuels, decomposition, erupting volcanoes, burning.

Reservoirs - atmosphere, ocean surface, plants, food web, sedimentary rocks, coal, oil, gas, soil organic carbon, phytoplankton, deep ocean currents,deep ocean sediments.

Through a series of chemical reactions and tectonic activity, carbon takes between 100-200 million years to move between rocks, soil, ocean and the atmosphere in the slow carbon cycle.

The movement of carbon from the atmosphere to the lithosphere begins with rain. Atmospheric carbon combines with water to form a weak acid - carbonic acid - that falls to the surface in rain. The acid dissolves rocks - a process called chemical weathering - and releases calcuim, magnesium, potassium, or sodium ions. Rivers carry the ions to the ocean.

In the ocean, the calcium ions combine with bicarbonate ions to form calcuim carbonate, the active ingredient in antacids and the chalky white substances that dries on your faucet if you live in an area with hard water. In the modern ocean, most of the calcuim carbonate is made by shell-building (calcifying) organisms (such as coral) and plankton (like coccolithophores and foraminifera). After the organisms die, they sink to the sea floor. Over time, layers of shells and sediment are cemented together and turn to rock, storing carbon in stone - limestone.

Entered into force in 2005 

An international and legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Aimed to reduce the emissions of man-made carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to below 1990 levels by the year 2012

Kyoto intoduced a 'carbon credits' scheme 

This is a trading system for countries to help them meet the goal of reducing the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

As each country produces CO2, it must be able to contain that CO2 by tree-planting or other processes that can absorb it

or 

It can reduce the CO2 it produces in the first place.

The Earth's Crust 

Stored in sedimentary rocks within the planet's crust. These rocks are either produced by hardening of mud into shale over time or by collection of calcuim carbonate particles.Together all sedimentary rocks on earth store 100,000,000 PgC.

Oceans 

The Earth's oceans contains 38,000PgC, most of which is in the form of dissolved inorganic carbon stored at great depths where it resides for long periods of time. A much smaller amount of carbon, approx 1000PgC is located near the surface of the ocean.

Atmosphere 

The atmosphere contain approx 750PgC, carbon in the atmosphere is vital in supporting the greenhouse whcich means the earths climate supports various ecosystems.

Terrestrial ecosystems

Terrestrial ecosystems contain carbon in the form of plants, animals, soils and microorganisms. Collectively, the earth's plants store approx contains 560PgC and the worlds soil approx 1500PgC.

The movement of any material from one place to another is called a flux and we typically think of a carbon flux as a transfer from one pool to another.

fluxes are usually expressed as a rate with units of an amount of some substance being transferred over a certain period of time (eg. g cm-2 s-1 or kg2yr-1)

A single carbon pool often can have several fluxes both adding and removing carbon.

The biological pump

Phytoplankton absorb CO2 and photosynthesis and respire oxygen nutrients from ocean floor mean phytoplankton can grow 'bloom'.

As the zooplankton eats the phytoplankton and excretes amd respires CO2 and the particles and waste material sinks.

This bacteria dissolves to organic carbon and can be eaten by zooplankton.

The rest goes to a deep ocean carbon flux where it is stored for hundreds of years. Is a sink.

The physical pump 

Downwelling occurs when surface waters converge, pushing surface water downward, regions of low primary productivity does not get a continuous supply of nutrient rich water.

Convection currents means that dissolved CO2 is brought to the deep ocean.

Once the CO2 moves slowly it stays there for hundreds of years.

Upwellings occurs when surfec water diverge enabling water to move upwards, bringing nutrient rich water.

The carbonate pump

Marine organisms that utilise calcuim carbonate to make hard outer shells and inner skeletons such as corals, oysters and lobsters. 

All these organisms die and sink, many shells dissolve and become part of the deep ocean current.

Those that do not dissolve build up slowly on the sea floor and create land forms such as the white cliffs of Dover.

Factors Increasing climate 

humidity, tropospheric temperature, temperature over land, sea level, ocean heat content, sea surface temperature, tempertaure over oceans.

Factors decreasing climate 

glaciers, snow cover, sea ice.