COMMENTS ON THE ROLE OF OCEANIC BIOTA AS A SINK FOR ANTHROPOGENIC CO2 EMISSIONS

In a letter published in Issues in Science and Technology, Revelle [1990] comments that one of the principal sinks for atmospheric carbon is probably phytoplankton production in the ocean. Revellegoes on to state (p. 21‐22). This process (that of phytoplankton growth and death, followed by settling of organic carbon out of the surface ocean to depth; the so‐called “biological pump”) could account for the sequestration of at least a billion tons of carbon of the total of five billion or six billion produced annually by fossil fuel consumption and biological activity. Copyright 1991 by the American Geophysical Union.