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Uptake by
the Ocean
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The main way
anthropogenic CO2 is removed from the
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atmosphere is
through oceanic uptake. This occurs
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because CO2
dissolves in seawater. The excess
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carbon is
eventually incorporated into the skeletons of
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marine
organisms and buried in deep sea sediments as
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the organisms
die and fall to the bottom of the ocean.
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This process
is thought to remove about 2 gigatons of
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carbon per
year from the atmosphere. So we
started
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with 7.5
gigatons, 3 are in the atmosphere, 2 are taken
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up by the
ocean, leaving us with 2.5 gigatons still to be
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accounted for.
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