Climate Management Issues

11The Earth’s Climate System

Through a process called diffusion, various gasses that contain carbon

move between the ocean’s surface and the atmosphere. Because of this,

plants in the ocean use CO

2

from the water for photosynthesis, which means

that ocean plants store carbon, just as land plants do. When ocean animals

consume these plants, they then store the carbon. Then when they die, they

sink to the bottom and decompose, and their remains become incorporated

in the sediments on the bottom of the ocean.

Once in the ocean, the carbon can go through various processes: it can form

rocks, then weather, and it can also be used in the formation of shells. Carbon

can move to and from different depths of the ocean and also exchange w