most of the earths carbon is stored in the lake.
where is most of the earths carbon stored?
lake
carbon leaves the terrestrial biosphere in several ways and on different time scales. the combustion or respiration of organic carbon releases it rapidly into the atmosphere. it can also be exported into the ocean through rivers or remain sequestered in soils in the form of inert carbon. carbon stored in soil can remain there for up to thousands of years before being washed into rivers by erosion or released into the atmosphere through soil respiration. between 1989 and 2008 soil respiration increased by about 0.1% per year. in 2008, the global total of released by soil respiration was roughly 98 billion tonnes, about 10 times more carbon than humans are now putting into the atmosphere each year by burning fossil fuel (this does not represent a net transfer of carbon from soil to atmosphere, as the respiration is largely offset by inputs to soil carbon). there are a few plausible explanations for this trend, but the most likely explanation is that increasing temperatures have increased rates of decomposition of soil organic matter, which has increased the flow of . the length of carbon sequestering in soil is dependent on local climatic conditions and thus changes in the course of climate change.
carbon cycle
the amount of carbon stored in permafrost soils is poorly understood. current research activities seek to better understand the carbon content of soils throughout the soil column. recent studies (2009) estimate that northern circumpolar permafrost soil carbon content equals approximately 1672 pg. (1 pg = 1 gt = 10g) this estimation of the amount of carbon stored in permafrost soils is more than double the amount currently in the atmosphere. this most recent assessment of carbon content in permafrost soils breaks the soil column into three horizons, 0–30 cm, 0–100 cm, and 1–300 cm. the uppermost horizon, 0–30 cm contains approximately 191 pg of organic carbon. the 0–100 cm horizon contains an estimated 496 pg of organic carbon, and the 0–300 cm horizon contains an estimated 1024 pg of organic carbon. these estimates more than doubled the previously known carbon pools in permafrost soils. additional carbon stocks exist in yedoma (407 pg), carbon rich loess deposits found throughout siberia and isolated regions of north america, and deltaic deposits (241 pg) throughout the arctic. these deposits are generally deeper than the 3 m investigated in traditional studies. many concerns arise because of the large amount of carbon stored in permafrost soils. until recently, the amount of carbon present in permafrost was not taken into account in climate models and global carbon budgets. thawing permafrost may release great quantities of old carbon stored in permafrost to the atmosphere.
permafrost carbon cycle