Carbon sink

As the carbon sink ( also Kohlenstoffdioxidsenke or CO2 sink ) is in the earth sciences refers to a reservoir that absorbs and stores carbon temporarily or permanently. The term is not to be confused with the stocks of carbon. While the memory is static, so it can bind a certain amount of CO2 that sinks are dynamic, they are memory, the gain in growth (eg newly founded forests). Carbon sinks are currently important due to global warming because they absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide ( CO2) from the atmosphere and thus counteract global warming.

In geological time the most important carbon reservoirs is the lithosphere, which contains 99.8 % of the carbon occurring on the earth; mainly as carbonate such as limestone. From the lithosphere also no significant amounts of carbon are returned to the biological carbon cycle. In the earth's crust there are very large amounts of suitable silicate minerals that will remove the long term by conversion into carbonates large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere permanently. However, the corresponding chemical reactions take place so slowly that the lithosphere for the current emissions of carbon dioxide, at least in the short to medium term can not act as a sink. An artificial acceleration of these processes by mining and crushing corresponding silicates and the use of acids is theoretically possible, but appears on a global scale due to the expected high material, energy and land consumption only moderately realistic - so would the probably most closely suitable minerals of the serpentine group over eight tons needed to permanently remove a ton of CO2 from the atmosphere.

The most important current carbon sinks are forests as part of the biosphere (but only those that registered a total net growth in biomass production ) and oceans ( belonging to the hydrosphere ). Forests account for their growth carbon dioxide directly from the air and store the carbon in biomass. The oceans absorb hardly any CO2 from the air, but received its essential supply of carbon from biomass is washed up and out of the respiratory carbon dioxide contained in the tributaries of the soil and aquatic organisms. Even Moore bind carbon dioxide, as long as they grow.

Scientific studies with CO2 - fertilized forests suggest that these additional CO2 deliver on soil respiration again. A field experiment at the University of Basel and the Paul Scherrer Institute, submitted to the studied trees in spite of CO2 fertilization no growth promotion firm.

Carbon sinks play an important role in the carbon cycle. Along with those are carbon sources. The most important source of carbon is currently the ever-growing consumption of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas or coal. Also, for example, released by deforestation and the draining of peatlands carbon.