• The many processes by which carbon is transferred from one store to another are collectively known as the?carbon cycle
  • During the carbon cycle, carbon is present in both?organic?and?inorganic?forms
    • Organic carbon is found in the?biomass?of living organisms e.g. in?carbohydrates?and?proteins
    • Inorganic carbon is found in the?atmosphere?as?carbon dioxide?and in the?oceans?as e.g.?hydrogen carbonate ions
• The carbon cycle can be represented using a?diagram
  • Carbon cycle diagrams show:
    • Carbon stores, known as?pools,?e.g the ocean, fossil fuels, or living organisms
    • Processes of carbon transfer, known as?fluxes?e.g. dissolving, combustion, or photosynthesis
• Diagrams can be illustrated, or can be simple, containing just text boxes and arrows
• Diagrams can show?terrestrial?carbon cycling,?marine?carbon cycling, or?both combined?in one diagram

An illustrated carbon cycle diagram showing both terrestrial and marine cycling

A simple carbon cycle diagram showing terrestrial carbon cycling

• The processes by which carbon is transferred from one pool to another are known as?fluxes
• Fluxes can be measured?quantitatively, showing?how much carbon?is transferred by a particular process
• The unit for carbon fluxes is?gigatonnes, or GT
  • One gigatonne is a billion tonnes
• It is difficult to measure global carbon fluxes precisely, but scientists can make?estimates?by measuring smaller ecosystems and scaling these measurements up

Estimated Global Yearly Carbon Fluxes Table

• Estimating carbon fluxes is very important as humans seek to?predict the impacts of climate change?and?reduce carbon emissions
  • By calculating the total carbon fluxes that remove carbon from the atmosphere and the total carbon fluxes that add carbon into the atmosphere scientists can calculate?atmospheric carbon increases
  • This enables scientists to predict levels of atmospheric warming