Reservoir
Somewhere that carbon stays for a while eg. atmosphere, lithosphere, ocean
Mixed Layer
Upper 200m of the ocean, low density warm water
Phytoplankton
Small organisms that do photosynthesis bringing carbon dioxide out of the atmsphere and into the ocean
pH 1 - 6
Acidic solutions with lots of H+ in them
pH 8
Current pH of the ocean
Deep Layer
Cold dense bottom layer of the ocean where carbon can be stored for up to 10,000 years
Dissolving and Diffusing
How carbon dioxide moves into the mixed layer of the ocean
Photosynthesis
Carbon dioxide and water are used to make sugar
H2CO3
Carbonic acid
Carbonic Acid
Forms when carbon dioxide dissolves into water
Carbon Dioxide
Main form of carbon in the atmosphere
Downwelling
How carbon dioxide moves into the deep layer of the ocean this happens at the poles
Shell building
Organisms use calcium and carbonate ions from the water to build shells
HCO3-
Bicarbonate ion
H+
Hydrogen ions when concentration of these increases the pH decreases and water becomes more acidic
Greenhouse Gas
Gasses that trap heat energy inside Earth's atmosphere causing surface temperatures to rise eg. carbon dioxide
Warm Water
Warm water cannot hold onto dissolved gas so it comes out of solution and back into the atmosphere
Marine Snow
When organisms with shells die some of them will sink to the bottom of the ocean taking carbon with them
CO32-
Carbonate ion
Impact of acidification on shell building
Calcium carbonate reacts with H+ ions and dissolves them
Lithosphere
Rocks - reservoir where carbon gets stored for the longest time eg. limestone, coal, fossil fuels
Process of water moving from the deep layer to mixed layer taking carbon with it
Ooze on the bottom of the ocean turns into limestone through these processes
Equilibrium reactions
Reactions that go forward when there are more reactants than products and backwards when there are more products than reactants
Impact of acidification on equilibrium reactions
Carbonate reaction goes backwards due to excess H+ and there is less material for shells to be built from