Carbon

Question 1

How much carbon is in the atmosphere?

Answer 1

720 Gigatonnes

Question 2

How much carbon is stored in the oceans?

Answer 2

37,000 Gigatonnes

mostly in deep water oceans

Question 3

How much carbon is stored in the lithosphere?

Answer 3

75 million Gigatonnes

Question 4

How much carbon is stored as organic carbon in the lithosphere?

Answer 4

15 million Gigatonnes

Question 5

How much carbon is released to the atmosphere by humans?

Answer 5

9 Gigatonnes / year

Question 6

What “type” of carbon is most of the Earth’s?

Answer 6

Geological

Question 7

Why are sedimentary carbonate rocks formed (e.g. limestone)

Answer 7

Geological carbon

Question 8

How is carbon naturally released to the atmosphere?

Answer 8

Volcanic eruptions
Volcanic out-gassing at ocean ridges and subduction
zones
Chemical weathering of rocks

Question 9

What sequesters carbon in surface water oceans?

Answer 9

Phytoplankton

Question 10

Why do phytoplankton sequester carbon?

Answer 10

Photosynthesis

Question 11

How is carbon terrestrially sequestered?

Answer 11

Plants (“primary producers”)

Question 12

Why do plants / primary producers sequester carbon?

Answer 12

Photosynthesis

Question 13

Where do phytoplankton sequester carbon?

Answer 13

Surface water oceans

Question 14

What is the physical carbon pump in the ocean?

Answer 14

Thermohaline circulation

Question 15

What force moves carbon from surface water oceans to deep water oceans?

Answer 15

Gravity

Question 16

What is the carbonate pump?

Answer 16

Organisms’ carbonate shells sink when it dies, and later turn into sedimentary rocks

Question 17

What is the turnover time in the atmosphere?

Answer 17

A few years

Question 18

What is the turnover time in the deep ocean sink and lithosphere?

Answer 18

Indefinite; usually millenia

Question 19

What is a turnover time?

Answer 19

How long carbon stays in a store

Question 20

What is a sink?

Answer 20

A store that holds carbon for an indefinite time

Question 21

How can carbon quickly be returned to the atmosphere by primary producers?

Answer 21

Respiration

Question 22

How can biological carbon be returned to the atmosphere in the long-term?

Answer 22

Decomposition

Question 23

What are the two different rates at which photosynthesis varies?

Answer 23

Diurnally

Seasonally

Question 24

What does diurnally mean?

Answer 24

24-hour period

Question 25

Describe the greenhouse effect?

Answer 25

Heat energy from the sun enters the atmosphere and is reflected by the Earth Some of it is trapped by greenhouse gases within the atmosphere

Question 26

What biological process plays a large role in regulating the composition of the atmosphere?

Answer 26

Photosynthesis

Question 27

What is the albedo effect?

Answer 27

``` Light surfaces (i.e. ice) reflects solar radiation, which means less heat is absorbed by the Earth ```

Question 28

How can melting ice produce a positive feedback loop with the albedo effect?

Answer 28

Ice melts → reduced albedo → increase temperature → more ice melting → more albedo → etc.

Question 29

How have humans altered the carbon balance?

Answer 29

Fossil fuel combustion

Question 30

Are energy pathways a key aspect of security?

Answer 30

Yes

Question 31

What are examples of energy pathways?

Answer 31

Pipelines, shipping routes, road and rail

Question 32

What are unconventional fossil fuel energy resources?

Answer 32

Tar sands, oil shale, shale gas, deep water oil

Question 33

How are tar sands obtained?

Answer 33

Strip mining / open-pit mining

Question 34

What are the benefits of unconventional fossil fuels?

Answer 34

Increased energy independence

Question 35

What are the costs of unconventional fossil fuels?

Answer 35

Impact to the environment

Question 36

What is EROI?

Answer 36

Energy-return-to-investment

Question 37

What is shale gas?

Answer 37

Natural gas found within shale

Question 38

How is shale gas obtained?

Answer 38

Fracking

Question 39

What are the drawbacks of fracking?

Answer 39

Long-term impacts unknown | Research funded by industry or environmentalists

Question 40

What are the concerns about fracking?

Answer 40

Methane escapes to atmosphere during extraction | Water contamination

Question 41

How much of the water used for fracking that is returned to the ground surface is contaminated?

Answer 41

Up to 40%

Question 42

What happens to some of the contaminated water used for fracking?

Answer 42

Returned to the ground surface

Question 43

What is the EROI of tar sands?

Answer 43

4:1

Question 44

What are some positives of biofuels?

Answer 44

They are renewable

Question 45

What are some drawbacks of biofuels?

Answer 45

Crops could be used for food instead | They aren't carbon-neutral

Question 46

Why aren't biofuels carbon-neutral?

Answer 46

The crops' carbon uptake mightn't offset all of carbon emissions from biofuel combustion

Question 47

What is the different between carbon uptake and carbon emissions for biofuels?

Answer 47

63% | but this was poor methodology, funded by oil industry

Question 48

What is carbon capture?

Answer 48

Capturing CO2 emissions and storing them in depleted oil & gas fields

Question 49

How much of CO2 emissions can be captured by carbon capture?

Answer 49

Up to 90%

Question 50

At what stages can carbon capture occur?

Answer 50

Pre-combustion or post-combustion