Carbon cycling refers to the set of biogeochemical processes that regulate the transformation, transport, and storage of carbon among major Earth system reservoirs, including the atmosphere, terrestrial biosphere, oceans, and lithosphere. It encompasses autotrophic carbon fixation, heterotrophic respiration, decomposition, sedimentation, weathering, and anthropogenic fluxes such as fossil fuel combustion and land-use change. Research on carbon cycling quantifies fluxes and pool sizes, characterizes feedbacks between carbon reservoirs and climate, and employs observational networks, isotopic tracers, and Earth system models to constrain budgets, residence times, and perturbation responses across temporal scales from diurnal to geologic.
Research from NASA's Curiosity rover has found evidence of a carbon cycle on ancient Mars, bringing scientists closer to an answer on whether the red planet was ever capable of supporting life.
Astrobiology
Apr 17, 2025
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In 2021, while revelers across America celebrated the fourth of July, three researchers waded through a shallow river delta in the New Mexican desert. Abby Eckland, Irina Overeem and Brandee Carlson stood in what remained ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 16, 2025
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As climate change increases, so does the pressure on humanity to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere—possibly with the help of the oceans. But which of the proposed marine CO2 removal and storage options should ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 11, 2025
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The ocean is a vital part of our planet's climate system. Through its global circulation patterns, the ocean draws vast quantities of our planet's heat and carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
Earth Sciences
Apr 4, 2025
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90
Scientists know that streams and rivers can contribute significant quantities of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. One way these bodies of water come to contain greenhouse gases is via groundwater, which picks up carbon ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 31, 2025
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Mesoscale eddies, oceanic gyres about 100 kilometers in diameter, are ubiquitous features of the global ocean and play a vital role in marine ecosystems. Eddies, which form in biologically productive coastal upwelling regions, ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 25, 2025
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Global heating over this millennium could exceed previous estimates due to carbon cycle feedback loops. This is the conclusion of a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The analysis shows ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 24, 2025
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From the grounds of a gas-fired power plant on the eastern shores of Canada, a little-known company is pumping a slurry of minerals into the ocean in the name of stopping climate change.
Environment
Mar 21, 2025
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147
Recent studies have shown that carbon stocks in terrestrial ecosystems are increasing, mitigating around 30% of the CO2 emissions linked to human activities.
Earth Sciences
Mar 20, 2025
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219
A graph I saw in high school appeared to show the Earth breathing. It was a graph that plotted carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the course of the 20th century and into the 21st. CO2 had risen steadily, and then more ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 20, 2025
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