The global carbon cycle and the role of the ocean

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  • Suzuki Yoshimi
    Institute of Geosciences, Faculty of Science, Shizuoka University

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  • global carbon cycle and the role of the

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Only about half of all the CO2 that has been produced by the burning of fossil fuels now remains in the atmosphere. The CO2 “missing” from the atmosphere is the subject of an important debate. It was thought that the great majority of the missing CO2 has invaded the ocean, for this system naturally acts as a giant chemical regulator of the atmosphere. Although it is clear that ocean processes have a major role in the regulation of the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere through air-sea exchange processes, recent studies of the oceanic carbon cycle and air-sea interaction indicate that oceanic carbon is in a quasi-steady state via the system of biological and physical processes in the ocean interior. It is difficult to determine whether the ocean has the capacity to take up the increasing air-born CO2 released by human activities over the past five or six decades. To understand this enigma, we need a better understanding of the natural variability of the oceanic carbon cycle.

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