NASA: Keeping Up With Carbon [720p]

Carbon is all around us. This unique atom is the basic building block of life, and its compounds form solids, liquids, or gases. Carbon helps form the bodies of living organisms; it dissolves in the ocean; mixes in the atmosphere; and can be stored in the crust of the planet. A carbon atom could spend millions of years moving through this complex cycle. The ocean plays the most critical role in regulating Earth's carbon balance, and understanding how the carbon cycle is changing is key to understanding Earth's changing climate.

Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Category:

Education

Tags:

• NASA
• carbon
• carbon cycle
• earth science

[greenehouse3]

why can't you get off this carbiphobia kick you are on and look at the most likely reason for climate change, THE SUN. Solar output, orbital fluctuations, volcanic activity. All of these have direct and immediate affects on our climate. Stop telling us that just because we want to live and grow that we are destroying the planet. The planet has and will continue to process carbon in its own worldly fashion. Anyone who has taken the time to reason it out doesn't believes you anymore.

[djxatlanta]

@greenehouse3 - unfortunately, there's no place for our excess carbon to go. Humans continue deforestation in the world's natural carbon sinks in tropical jungles, and these same regions are expected to dry and turn to savana in the coming centuries. Our oceans are becoming oversaturated with CO2 -- acidification is already killing coral reefs -- and their ability to store carbon will only decrease as the planet continues to warm. The earth CAN fix itself -- but we won't give it a chance.

[greenehouse3]

I agree climate does affect the seasons. However you are saying carbon is a pollutant and that is what I disagree with. Carbon is no more a pollutant than water is. Both are needed for life to grow and flourish on this planet. What I meant by my comment is that during the winter season plant life goes dormant and stops converting carbon dioxide into oxygen thereby causing co2 to build-up which according to your theory make for a warmer winter.

thanks for responding.

look forward to the next.

[djxatlanta]

@greenehouse3 - yes, there are seasonal variations of CO2 as you said -- they build up in each hemisphere (northern/southern) during their winter seasons and decline again in summer. That was discovered about a century ago. Normally the carbon cycle is pretty self-sustaining. However, CO2 levels in the atmosphere have been rising from a number of human sources which has disrupted this cycle. A little CO2 is a good thing; a lot of it is not.

[greenehouse3]

I have one simple question for anyone who wants to answer. What happens to the climate during the winter season?

[djxatlanta]

@greenehouse3 - Over the long term, climate affects seasons... not the other way around. Averaged out over the entire planet, winters have been getting warmer over the past few decades. First freezes are later in the season, spring plants are arriving sooner, warmer temperatures and higher humidities are giving rise to more snowstorms, increased open water near the poles (normally covered in sea ice) are causing weather patterns to shift in unpredictable ways. We're in uncharted territories now.

[djxatlanta]

@RyuStriders - you're welcome... and keep the Pride. It DOES get better. =)

[RyuStriders]

thanks for the video! :)

[TNTJahv1er]

Amazing info, thanks