ESS101C
Prof.
Jin-Yi Yu
Where Did the Pumping Occur?
qThe pumping hypothesis asserts that greater downward removal of carbon
occurs because
more nutrients become available to stimulate greater removal of organic carbon from surface water by
photosynthesis.
qLarge-scale changes in biological pumping of carbon to the deep sea can
occu only in relatively productive regions.
qThe most productive regions in the world ocean are in areas of
upwelling along costal margins and near the equator and in the high-latitude surface ocean
around Antarctica.
qThese are the two regions where significant more organic carbon could
have been pumped
down into the deep ocean during glaciations than today.
Carbon Production at Modern Day
(from Earth’s Climate: Past and Future)