When they are deposited on the sea floor, carbon is stored from the rest of the carbon cycle for some amount of time. These shells and bones are made of limestone, which contains carbon. Over long time scales, carbon is removed from seawater when the shells and bones of marine animals and plankton collect on the sea floor. For example, over millions of years weathering of rocks on land can add carbon to surface water which eventually runs off to the ocean. The recent increase in amounts of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide is having a significant impact on the warming of our planet.Ĭarbon moves through our planet over longer time scales as well. The atmosphere has not held this much carbon for at least 420,000 years according to data from ice cores. But since the start of the Industrial Revolution about 150 years ago humans have burned so much fuel and released so much carbon dioxide into the air that global climate has risen over one degree Fahrenheit. Without it and other greenhouse gases, Earth would be a frozen world. The carbon is dissolved into the water.Ĭarbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and traps heat in the atmosphere. The oceans, and other bodies of water, absorb some carbon from the atmosphere. Carbon moves from the atmosphere to the oceans.Most of the remainder becomes dissolved in seawater. Of this massive amount, 3.3 billion tons stays in the atmosphere. Each year, five and a half billion tons of carbon is released by burning fossil fuels. When humans burn fossil fuels to power factories, power plants, cars and trucks, most of the carbon quickly enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide gas. Carbon moves from fossil fuels to the atmosphere when fuels are burned.Animals and plants need to get rid of carbon dioxide gas through a process called respiration. Each time you exhale, you are releasing carbon dioxide gas (CO 2) into the atmosphere.
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