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Carbon 2.1.6-10 - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Operates unevenly throughout the day & year (diurnal/seasonal) depending on the sunlight .... limiting factors
      - Productivity differs in conditions that change
      - Latitude - equator & tropics, more sunlight, ITCZ
      - Altitude effects temperature - less productivity at hight
    - - Changing rate of decomposition depending on limiting factors
      - C6H12O6 -> 3CO2 + 3CH4
      - Exposed carbon in peatlands (carbon sink) can lead to decomposition and the release of carbon gas
    - - Burning fossil fuels releases carbon gas into the atmosphere, its trapped within the atmosphere, and absorbs heat energy, therefore warming the atmospheric temperature
  - - - Nomadic farming
        
        If the grass is grazed and damaged if tall, then the grass will ejects roots into the soil, potentially storing greater underground biomass and carbon
        
        Over-grazing causes roots to not eject, as they aren't long enough yet into the ground. Therefore, the greater the time between grazing on grass the better.
        
        Large herds of animals moving across large areas of grasslands is very healthy for the ecosystem. E.g. Buffalo & Wilderbeast
        
        Roots and Shoots act symmetrically in growth
      - Commercial farming
        
        Over-cultivation disturbs the soil formation and decompacts the soil structure, therefore making it more vulnerable to splash erosion or wind erosion or exposing it to oxygen
    - - Between 30-50 degrees N latitude, mostly outside the tropics. Largest areas in Europe, Russia and North America
      - 500mm average annual rainfall
      - 6 hours of sunlight during the winter, 12hr sunlight in summer/spring
      - Sequestration of roots in the ground - compact carbon-rich soil
      - Grass growth mirroring
      - Biggest Store is soil, as the long roots deposit carbon into the soil storage - pedosphere - maintaining a carbon-rich compacted soil
      - Biggest transfer is Biomass to Leaf Litter, as the leaves fall out and begin to decompose on the ground floor.
      - 2-10 tonnes of carbon per hectare, majority stored below ground
  - - - Short term use
      - Have no long term consequences on the soil or water, therefore the forest regrows back to normal
      - Sustainable
    - - Combustion and Decomposition
      - Water is drained and lost, soil nutrients is aslo lost
      - Long term - permanent affects
      - Destroying peats to create more commercial land
      - Indonesian Palm oil plantation
        
        Unsustainable, decomposition is forced as the soil and peatlands are removed from the earth
        
        Malaysia is 15% covered by Palm Oil plantations
      - Commercialisation
      - Palm oil roots don't require as much water, or don't use the water held in the soil
        
        The Anoxic layer becomes oxic layer, as the soil is dispersed out allowing O2 to come into contact with the carbon stored in the soil
        
        Water is logged in the Anoxic layer with carbon stored in it, therefore, this commercialisation of the forest becomes a serious issue
- - - - Fenland Peat
        
        Plants die and descend, sink, build up in layers, wetlands fall to low lying areas, lower altitude, grown water accumulation
      - Raised Bog
        
        Rain input, plus throughflow, saturates the soil, Creates a sink of carbon and organic material, stored in highly saturated soil
      - Blanket Blog
        
        Upland areas, frequent rainfall, poor drainage, water cannot escape, creates high saturated soil, compacted with dead organic material
        
        Upland Plato, with impermeable surface beneath so water cannot drain through underground - Dartmoor, granite geology
  - - - Scotland and Ireland power stations
      - Commercial extraction for horticultural industry
      - Cultivating & burning the pat leads to drainage so other plants are exposed to decomposition, vulnerability of nearby peat is increased
  - - - Re-establishing plant cover and peat safety
      - re-wetting of drained peatlands by raising and stabilising water table, bring back high saturation levels
      - Balancing the carbon budget
      - Re-introduction of wetland species, create an ecosystem to help improve wetlands and peatlands
- - - - The biogeochemical cycle by which carbon moves from one part of the global system to another
      - Photosynthesis/Respiration/Combustion/Decomposition
    - - Atmosphere - 750,000,000 tonnes of C - 0.0017%
      - Pedosphere - 0.0031% - Soil matter, Peat
      - Biosphere - 560,000,000 tonnes of C - 0.0012%
      - Fossil fules - 0.004%
      - Hydrosphere - 0.038%
    - - PIC - Particulate inorganic carbon (sand grain, pebble)
      - DOC - Dissolved organic carbon
      - POC - Particulate organic carbon (twig,leaf etc)
      - DIC - Dissolved inorganic carbon
    - - Liquid - Calcium bicarbonate, carbonic acid
      - Gas - CO2, CH4
      - Solid - Carbonate rock
  - - - Process - Photosynthesis/respiration/decomposition/combustion
      - Variation across the world depending on latitude and altidue due to climate/limiting factors, Diurnal & Seasonal variations
    - - Process - Carbonate pump - Sedimentation (slow)
      - Physical pump - upwelling/downwelling, diffusion, degassing (very slow)
    - - Process - subduction tectonic activity
      - Limited spatial and temporal variation
  - - - Terrestrial photosynthesis - increased capacity due to increase CO2 in the atmosphere - earth greening OR deforestation reduces photosynthesis
      - Biological ocean pump - food web imbalance, loss of biodiversity
      - Carbon sequestration - urbanisation leads decreased capacity for carbon sotrage and decreases photosynthesis
      - Respiration - increased capacity due to earth greening
      - Decomposition - Peatland drainage/reclamation, permafrost thawing leading to increased methane emissions
    - - Physical - global warming disrupts the natural circulation of the atmosphere - warm fresh water degases CO2
      - Carbonate - Acidification reduced shell formation - coral dies
- - - - Open systems can interact with other systems via inputs and outputs
      - Closed systems have boundaries which uphold as a defence so other systems do not effect another
- - - - Enhanced GHG effect - global temperature warming, as the addition of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere absorbs greater amounts of solar radiation every year.
      - Burning fossil fuels, combustion, rapidly increased the carbon storage in the atmosphere, to the extent where reversing the change is not naturally possible
        
        This leads to the melting of the cryosphere, provoking sea levels to rise
      - Albedo effect
        
        Relecting or absorbing due to its colour of fill - White or Black
      - Milankovitch cycles
        
        Every 41,000 years the earths tilts, changes the angle in which the suns rays are sent towards the earth, therefore, areas of the earth receive more sunlight.
        
        Every 10,000 years the earth is the furthest away from the sun on the largest oval axis. The combination of planets and gravity pull the earth further from the sun creating this elongated oval shape
  - - - Thermal expansion - hotter oceans, gas particles expand, creating thermal expansion, rises sea levels
      - Glacial metls are increasing
      - Antarctic ice sheets melting, cryosphere melting, long term consequences
      - Glacial movement, permafrost melting, causes runoff and flooding, discharge in river basins increases
    - - Rising sea levels cause predictions for exceeded number of floods in the future, causing coastal urban areas to spend more on coastal defences
      - 2007 UK flooding
      - Albedo effect on the ice sheets, causing melting, cracking of ice
    - - pH of the ocean has dropped by 0.1%, changing the acidity by 30%
      - Acidification impacts
        
        metabolic rate
        
        Reproduction
        
        Marine species
        
        immune systems
      - Calcium as the carbonate in shells is eroded and dissolved by acidic water. Shells and corals become weaker, lose nutrients and die, creating an imbalance in the ecosystem (Bleaching). Coral pores die from lack of nutrients and incorrect substance to build their structure upon
    - - Greater probability in summer draught, increased frequency of frontal winter rainfall - seasonality becomes more prominent
      - UK - No change since the 18th century, last 30 years, winter rainfall has exceeded predictions and is discharging heavier, winter rainstorms are becoming more common, as is wetter winters
  - - - Mouth - Exmouth, Source - Simons Bath Exmoor
      - Annual rainfall 1100mm
      - Tributaries
        
        River Colm
        
        River Barle
        
        River Clyst
- - - - Occurs in the water cycle post storm event or flooding
      - Amplifies the issue rather than reversing its effects
    - - Can help regulate water cycle flows and processes in a river channel
      - Attempts to reverse the issues occurring in the water cycle inside the basin
  - - - Sea ice is at a steady decline with small fluctuations, since the cryosphere's natural equilibrium is out of sink due to human involvement
      - Warmer air - More sea ice melts - less light reflected - warmer water
    - - Glacial melting, seasonality is changing over time, less snow is present, or snow comes in heavy or small amounts
      - Once the point is reached where ablation is greater than accumulation, glaciers won't be able to rebuild and gain ice and snow
      - The snow & ice melt which occurs at the bottom of the glacier will increase into the future due to this
      - Surface melt in 2012 was 97% above the average
    - - Passing 2 degrees C is the tipping point - out of equilibrium - permanent imbalance
        
        Albedo effect on Greenland ice sheets
        
        Warmer atmosphere melts the surface of the ice sheets, causing cracks to emerge at the top. Melted warm water flows through these cracks evetually metling larger and deeper cracks in the ice sheet, making darker pool of water in the ice sheet. These darker pool absorb the sunlight causing further melting. The ice sheet loses its reflectivity, and begins to absorb more heat and radiation.
        
        Ablation > Accumulation
        
        Becomes a positive feedback mechanism as the melting is amplified to a greater scale
        
        Warmer water lubricates the cracks and beneath the ice sheets, enabling them to shift and move
        
        Precipitation thoor frost accumulation - addition of snow
    - - Permafrost storage - compact soil, large volume of dead plants (hold methane)
      - Siberia - Permafrost
        
        Permafrost soil is exposed, it crumbles into pedoma which falls into ice and snow where it is compact and stored, often in lake beds. Beneath the snow layer, frozen ice layers lie with dead plants and other organic matter in it. Therefore, if the ice is penetrated, it risks this organic matter coming into contact with oxygen, breaking the anoxic layer inside, allowing the possibility for gases to be released. The CH4 bubbles held in ice are able to break free as gas bubbles as the solid ice melts. The gases naturally travel upwards, and travel into the atmosphere. This process of escaping carbon gas can have serious faults in the volume of carbon gas in the atmospheric storage.
        
        In spring and summer season, the warmer air and climate provokes ice melting, therefore, the risk of gases is even higher. The future concern is that the Siberian ice and snow will begin to seriously melt, enabling CH4 and CO2 gases to leave the cryosphere storage and become atmospheric storage
        
        Permafrost degrades from erosional processes and weathering, creating lose pedoma, which thaws and ferments releasing CH4 gas. These gases get trapped in the ice as gas bubbles, where they lay dormant until the ice is exposed to melting
    - - Working together in one mechanism - interconnected and interdependent
        
        The main concern is the rate of change happening due to these mechanisms working seasonally. The results of seasonality are become more prominent and noticeable as warmer air melts the ice, and temperature aren't reaching the point at which liquid water freezes into ice
        
        CH4 is 23x more potent and damaging than CO2