Various nutrient sources in the upper waters of oceanic subtropical gyres, which are the Earth’s largest oligotrophic ecosystems, play a crucial role in governing the sequestration of atmospheric CO2.
carbon dioxide
Posted inNews
Weathering of Rocks Can Release Carbon Dioxide
New research upends the notion that the weathering of rocks mainly removes CO2 from the atmosphere. Rocks can also be carbon sources, releasing as much CO2 as Earth’s volcanoes.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Measuring Carbon’s Flow from Land to Sea
A new study catalogs how dissolved inorganic carbon moves through southeast Alaska’s waterways.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
A Crystal Ball for the Carbon Cycle, But a Cloudy One
Carbon cycle models quantify relationships between emission scenarios and resulting atmospheric concentrations, but are the projections credible? New analyses find grounds for both hope and concern.
Posted inNews
Future Supercontinent Will Be Inhospitable for Mammals
Pangea returns in 250 million years, and it’s not looking good for us.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Carbon Dioxide’s Effect on Mountain Climate Systems
Greenhouse gases are rising in the atmosphere. But how will precipitation patterns change as climate systems rise over mountain chains?
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Gently Down the Stream: Carbon’s Journey from Land to Sea and Beyond
Movement of carbon from land to ocean and atmosphere plays an important, but understudied, role in the global carbon cycle.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Grow-Fast-Die-Young Strategy Increases Swiss Forest Biomass
Climate change and CO2 fertilization can increase both growth and mortality of trees. The net effect on forest biomass depends on that trade-off, which long-term studies in Switzerland reveal.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Marine Sediments Reveal Past Climate Responses to CO2 Changes
Climate records stored in marine sediments reveal different ice sheet and ocean responses to falling atmospheric CO2 concentrations from the warm Pliocene to the ice ages of the Pleistocene.
Posted inScience Updates
Our Evolving Understanding of Biological Carbon Export
The array of processes and organisms that make up the biological carbon pump has immense influence on Earth’s carbon cycle and climate. But there’s still much to learn about how the pump works.