🔵Carbon Cycle Flashcards
What’s the cryosphere
Ice storage
Accounts for 1.7% of all water on earth
Major cryospheric stores
Antarctic (90%) and Greenland (10%) ice sheets
Polar sea ice
Mountain glaciers
Sea ice function (global climate )
While sea ice exists primarily in the polar regions, it influences the global climate. The bright surface of sea ice reflects a lot of sunlight out into the atmosphere and, importantly, back into space. Because this solar energy “bounces back” and is not absorbed into the ocean, temperatures nearer the poles remain cool relative to the equator.
When warming temperatures gradually melt sea ice over time, fewer bright surfaces are available to reflect sunlight back into the atmosphere. More solar energy is absorbed at the surface and ocean temperatures rise. This begins a cycle of warming and melting. Warmer water temperatures delay ice growth in the fall and winter, and the ice melts faster the following spring, exposing dark ocean waters for a longer period the following summer.
What do changes in sea ice cause (globally)
Changes in the amount of sea ice can disrupt normal ocean circulation, thereby leading to changes in global climate. Even a small increase in temperature can lead to greater warming over time, making the polar regions the most sensitive areas to climate change on Earth.
How much freshwater is stored in the cryosphere
70% worlds freshwater
What would happen if the cryosphere melted fully
Rise in sea level - 70m
A significant amount of the UK, SW Europe, a large amount of Asian cities would be drowned including Singapore, Mumbai and Doha. All seaside cities and areas would be lost.
Permafrost definition
Permafrost is a layer of frozen soil, composed of soil, gravel, and sand bound together by ice. Permafrost is found throughout the Arctic, as well in Eastern Europe and China. It can also be found below the ocean floor.
Permafrost function
Permafrost contains a lot of carbon dioxide and methane that has been stored over thousands of years. Recent research shows that permafrost is thawing 70 years earlier than anybody thought it would. One potential consequence of the current rapid thawing is the release of this carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.
Decreases in cryosphere - more GHG’s released (due to warming soil temperatures)
What would happen if permafrost melted
Large amounts of GHG’s released
Homes, roads and schools to buckles and collapse, some communities have already had to relocate.
Landslides, floods, coastal erosion, decrease in wildlife and biodiversity.
Glacial water - Himalayas
Himalayan Glaciers provide freshwater to Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
More than 1.9 billon people rely on glacial melt water for drinking, agriculture and energy - however by 2050 1/3 of Asias glacier would have melted meaning many are left without freshwater supply’s.
Main carbon stores - lithosphere (1)
1st
Marine sediments and sedimentary rocks (long term)
66,000-100,000 million billion metic tonnes of C.
The rock cycle and continental drift recycle the rock over time, but this may take thousands, if not millions of years.
Main stores of carbon - hydrosphere
2nd
Oceans (dynamic / variable)
The second biggest store contains a tiny fraction of the carbon of the largest store - 38,000 billion metric tons of carbon.
The carbon is constantly being utilised by marine organisms, lost as an output to the lithosphere, or gains as an input from rivers and erosion.
Main stores of carbon - lithosphere (2)
3rd
Fossil fuel deposits (long term but currently dynamic and variable)
Fossil fuel deposits used to be rarely changing over short periods of time, but humans have developed technology to exploit them rapidly, though 4000 billion metric tons of carbon remain as fossil fuels.
Main stores of carbon - lithosphere (3)
4th
Soil organic matter (mid term)
The soil can store carbon for over a hundred years, but deforestation, agriculture and land use change are affecting this store. 1500 billion metric tons of carbon stored.
Main stores of carbon - atmosphere
5th
Dynamic
Human activity has caused CO levels in the atmosphere to increase by around 40% since the industrial revolution, causing unprecedented change to the global climate. 750 billion metric tons of carbon stored.
Main stores of carbon - biosphere
6th
Terrestrial plants - Mid term but dynamic
Vulnerable to climate change and deforestation and as a result carbon storage in forests is declining annually in some areas of the world. 560 billion metric tons ofB carbon.
Main carbon stores - cryosphere
Very little carbon stored
Transfers in the carbon cycle - photosynthesis
Carbon Dioxide + Water —> (Light Energy) —> Oxygen + Glucose
By removing CO: from the atmosphere, plants are sequestering carbon and reducing the potential impacts of climate change.
During the day, plants photosynthesise, absorbing significantly more CO2 than they emit from respiration. During the night they do not photosynthesise but they do respire, releasing more CO2 than they absorb. Overall, plants absorb more CO2 than they emit, so are net carbon dioxide absorbers (from the atmosphere) and net oxygen producers (to the atmosphere).
Transfers in carbon cycle - respiration
Oxygen + Glucose —> Carbon Dioxide + Water
Transfers in carbon cycle - combustion
When fossil fuels and organic matter such as trees are burnt, they emit CO2 into the atmosphere, that was previously locked inside of them. This may occur when fossil fuels are burnt to produce energy, or if wildfires occur.
Transfers in carbon cycle - decomposition
When living organisms die, they are broken down by decomposers (such as bacteria and detritivores) which respire, returning CO2 into the atmosphere. Some organic matter is also returned to the soil where it is stored adding carbon matter to the soil.
Transfers in carbon cycle - diffusion
The oceans can absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, which has increased ocean acidity by 30% since pre-industrial times. The ocean is the biggest carbon store, but with carbon levels increasing seawater becomes more acidic which is harming aquatic life by causing
coral bleaching. Many of the world’s coral reefs now under threat.
Transfers in carbon cycle - weathering and erosion
Rocks are eroded on land or broken down by carbonation weathering. Carbonation weathering occurs when CO2 in the air mixes with rainwater to create carbonic acid which aids erosion of rocks such as limestone. The carbon is moved through the water cycle and enters the oceans. Marine organisms use the carbon in the water to build their shells. Increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, may increase weathering and erosion as a result, potentially affecting other parts of the carbon cycle.
Transfers in carbon cycle - burial and compaction
When shelled marine organisms die, their shell fragments fall to the ocean floor and become compacted over time to form limestone. Organic matter from vegetation and decaying marine organisms is compacted over time, whether on land or in the sea, to form fossil fuel deposits.
Transfers in carbon cycle - carbon sequestration
Transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to other stores and can be both natural and artificial. A plant sequesters carbon when it photosynthesises and stores the carbon in its mass. Factories are also starting to use carbon sequestration in the form of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). CO? is captured and transported via pipeline to depleted gas fields and
saline aquifers.
CCS advantages
Can be fitted to existing coal power stations.
Captures 90% of CO produced.
There is a demand for CO2 (Coca-Cola, Plant Growth, Beer etc.), so transport systems via pipeline in liquid form already exist.
Potential to capture half the world’s CO emissions.