Abstract
The natural processes which determine how much CO2 is in the atmosphere have never been more intensely and urgently studied than at present. The urgency stems from our realization that we are changing the global climate fundamentally and rapidly by the addition of radiatively active “greenhouse” gases to the atmosphere, CO2 foremost among them. The rate of rise of CO2 concentrations is considerably mitigated, however, by the existence of a net sink for atmospheric CO2 which is about half as large as the total anthropogenic input, (fossil fuel burning and deforestation). Figure 1, based on data in the IPCC scientific assessment (IPCC, 1990) gives estimated net sources and sinks of atmospheric CO2. All of the fluxes shown are, it should be stressed, net. In particular, the ocean uptake of about 2 Gt C yr−1 is the difference between two nearly equal fluxes of order 100 Gt C yr−1 into and out of the ocean.
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© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Watson, A.J., Robertson, J.E., Ling, R.D. (1993). Air-Sea Exchange of CO2 and Its Relation to Primary Production. In: Wollast, R., Mackenzie, F.T., Chou, L. (eds) Interactions of C, N, P and S Biogeochemical Cycles and Global Change. NATO ASI Series, vol 4. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76064-8_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76064-8_10
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