The other day we wrote about how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere functions as Earth’s thermostat. Next, we want to know where carbon comes from, and how it ends up in the atmosphere and influences our climate. In the process, we learned that carbon is the 15th most abundant element in the earth’s crust. But, how does carbon reach the atmosphere?
How Does Carbon Reach the Atmosphere Naturally?
Earth’s rocks, soils, and oceans exchange carbon with the biosphere as a natural part of the biochemical carbon cycle. This biosphere is the worldwide sum of all Earth’s ecosystems. The atmosphere we breathe is one such ecosystem, which nature intended to be a closed, self-regulating one.
On the earth below, plants use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates that are the basis of the food chain.
The concentration of atmospheric carbon has varied from 7,000 parts per million in the Cambrian period, to 180 during the Quaternary Glaciation Ice Age that lasted for two million years. Since the first industrial revolution, carbon has been reaching the atmosphere through human effort too.
How Does Carbon Reach the Atmosphere Through Our Effort
The first industrial revolution freed humankind from relying on animal power, and indeed much physical effort too. However this came at a cost, because the giant new machines fed greedily off carbon coal fires boiling water for steam.
That’s how human intervention began in the global-warming, global-cooling cycle. Because our machines – including internal combustion cars – are now producing extra carbon that must exchange somehow with the biosphere. This is how the concentration of atmospheric carbon increased by 45% since the first industrial revolution began.
Thus, it is no longer a question of how carbon reaches the atmosphere naturally. Due to human intervention, the present concentration may be the highest in 20 million years. This is the consequence of burning fossil fuels and destroying legacy forests. How did we manage to go so horribly wrong? We will investigate further and report back.
Related
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How Carbon Dioxide Is Earth’s Thermostat
Preview Image: Greenhouse Effect
