Abstract
Observations of CO2 and O2 are interpreted to develop an understanding of the changes in the abundance of atmospheric CO2 that have arisen over the period 1995–2007. Fossil fuels accounted for an addition of 89.3 Gt of carbon to the atmosphere over this time period, 29% of which was transferred to the ocean, 15% to the global biosphere, with the balance (57%) retained by the atmosphere. Analysis of historical data for CO2 derived from studies of gases trapped in ice at Law Dome in Antarctica indicate that the biosphere represented a net source of atmospheric CO2 prior to 1940, switching subsequently to a net sink.
Highlights
The bulk of the Earth’s carbon resides in the sediments
The challenge at the moment is that demands for the fossil fuels and cement production in our modern economy are seriously accelerating the natural rate at which carbon is returned to the atmosphere from sediments, by more than a factor of 50
The objective for this paper is to develop a quantitative understanding of the relative importance of ocean uptake, exchange with the biosphere/soil system and combustion of fossil fuel in determining the change in CO2 that has taken place in the atmosphere over the past several hundred years
Summary
The bulk of the Earth’s carbon resides in the sediments. The ocean ranks number two, followed by soils, the biosphere and the atmosphere. The objective for this paper is to develop a quantitative understanding of the relative importance of ocean uptake, exchange with the biosphere/soil system and combustion of fossil fuel in determining the change in CO2 that has taken place in the atmosphere over the past several hundred years.
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