Yuseung Kim 12.

Carbon Cycle Background

4.

a. where is carbon present?

- glaciers store organic carbon derived from both primary production on the

glaciers and deposition of materials such as soot or other fossil fuel combustion

byproducts

b. what is the name given for a store of carbon and what is the name given to the

movement of carbon between two stores?

- reservoir of carbon, pools, or stocks and fluxes of organic carbon

c. give a example of three of these movements in the cycle then make a brief copy of

figure 1 on page 1 of the document

- from the atmospheric carbon dioxide, moves by uptake by photosynthesis in the

presence of water and sunlight, which usually returns to atmosphere by

respiration, decay, fire and harvesting. there are also organic carbon transfers

between the fire, which can be transferred to the soils

Yuseung Kim 12.1

d. how does the carbon cycle link into the atmospheric energy budget (first lessons in

this unit of work)?

- it comes from outside, and then into the land, and into the soil

e. outline the relationship between carbon sources and carbon sinks

- earth’s carbon reservoirs naturally act as both sources (adding carbon to the

atmosphere), and sinks (removing carbon from the atmosphere). if the sources

add up to all the sinks, the carbon cycle can be said to be in equilibrium – as

there is no change in the size of the pools over time (in the system). the recent

use of burning of fossil fuels and deforestations have increased CO2

f. what does the abbreviation ‘pg’ refer to and how is it calculated?

- pg is an abbreviation of petagrams, and it is used to measure amount of carbon.

For example, a Petagram of carbon (Pg), also known as a Gigaton (Gt), is equal

to 10^15 grams or one billion tonnes. A tonne, also known as a metric ton, is

equal to one thousand kilograms (1,000 kg)1

1
http://globecarboncycle.unh.edu/CarbonPoolsFluxes.shtml