When trees are burned, CO2 is relinquished. The burning of astronomically immense areas of trees is known as deforestation. Human activities integrate more CO2 into the atmosphere through activities like the burning of fossil fuels. The guiding question of this investigation is, “Which carbon cycle process affects atmospheric carbon the most?” The researchers initially wanted to learn 2 things. First, the researchers wanted to learn how much carbon engenderment there would be if they incremented the amount of fossil fuels burnt by a certain amount. The researchers also wanted to learn how much carbon engenderment there would be if they incremented the amount of deforestation. To amass data, in lieu of conducting an experiment the researchers decided to utilize a simulation. The simulation showed the amount of carbon engenderment there would be ten years after the amount of burnt fossil fuels and or deforestation was incremented or decremented . The first test that the researchers conducted was leaving everything the same and running 90 years (See figure 1). Next, the researchers incremented the amount of burnt fossil fuels only (See figure 2). Then, the researchers went back and incremented the amount of deforestation only (See figure 3). …show more content…
The results of the simulation availed to compare the effect of burning fossil fuels on the amount of atmospheric carbon versus deforestation. Carbon is engendered more by fossil fuels that deforestation. This is because deforestation is a natural occurring process whereas burning fossil fuels is a negative type of carbon cycling. Fossil fuels are negative due to the air pollution and it has a circumscribed
Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change because they act as a carbon sink soaking up carbon dioxide that would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to ongoing changes in climate patterns. Deforestation undermines this important carbon sink function. It is estimated that 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions are the
You can identify a long-trend in the data provided by Globalview because it provides you with different sources and data from different areas around the world. Humans have increased the release of CO2 by like cement production, deforestation, and burning fossil fuels.
The purpose of this lab is to determine if there has been an increase or decrease in CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels based on data collected from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observatories from 1990 to 2005 and to establish the reason for the change.
Carbon Dioxide plays a key role in the atmosphere. This gas has properties that allow it to sustain and hold in heat, which in turn warms the planet (EIA, 2004). Carbon, the primary component of carbon dioxide; is also the essential molecule for life and is the most basic building block found in all organic compounds. Human activities been blamed for the disruption of the earth’s natural carbon cycles and according to some studies, carbon is being added to the atmosphere faster than the natural processes that sequestrate it. The massive carbon sinks that naturally regulated and fixated excess carbon dioxide have been destroyed as humans have deforested ancient forests for the
There are lots of natural processes constantly happening all around us, these processes are often linked by passing one type of atom to the next process which passes the same atom to the next one and so on. This ‘passing of the atom’ along a chain of processes is called a cycle, the series of processes in which the carbon atom goes through is called the carbon cycle. Each Carbon is the fourth most affluent element in the universe and is an important part of most molecules that make up most of the world’s natural resources and organic matter, which is why the carbon cycle is one of the most important cycles on earth. Through-out the cycle, carbon can become several different forms such as sugar, oil, diamond and marble. Processes such as photosynthesis, combustion and the compression of the earth play key roles in changing, containing and releasing carbon. All the chemical reactions and processes and forms carbon creates are part of the carbon cycle, which is one of the most important cycle on earth. The majority of carbon on earth is in the atmosphere the rest is stored in rocks, fossil fuels, oceans, plants and soil. Carbon is constantly being added to the atmosphere, the most common forms being carbon dioxide and methane gas. At the same time it’s being removed by plants on land and in the oceans. Carbon can be stored for hundreds of years in sediment, fossil fuels, rocks and the ocean. The carbon in the atmosphere is almost always a compound called carbon dioxide.
Secondly, together with deforestation of the planet, the burning of fossil fuels is contributing to a measurable increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in
Anthropogenic changes occur in various states around the world. One of the most significant impacts to Earth and its climate is the burning of fossil fuels by people. According to the textbook, “Each year, burning of fossil
When fossil fuels are burnt, it interrupts the natural CO2 cycle because the stored co2 goes through the atmosphere instead of being stored in things like wood sugar cane. If we deforest the earth, then the forest doesn’t absorb the co2 and the carbon ifs left in the atmosphere.
Deforestation is a process of cutting down too many trees and it largely affects the climate. The Amazon rain forest is a perfect example of this. In the past 40 years a full 20% has been removed from that single rainforest alone.When cutting down trees the process of photosynthesis can not take place. Therefore large amounts of carbon dioxide are left in the air, and there is less oxygen. These C02 bonds interfere with the C03 in the ozone. Global warming is greatly affected by deforestation due to the increase in greenhouse gases it causes. Tens of Millions of acres are being cut down each week. These acres are as large as Italy. When these trees have been burned carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere. Trees are 50% carbon dioxide, so when deforestation takes place lots of carbon dioxide is released. It accounts for 25% of carbon dioxide emissions.
The Earth consists of various environmental resources which are often used in a way to benefit society (Wang, Du, Su, Chen, 2012). For instance, a particular environmental resource, fossil fuels, can be used to create energy to provide homes with heat and electricity, power industries, and run vehicles (Judkins, Fulkerson & Sanghvj). Unfortunately, even though fossil fuels provide society with advantages, they cause significant damage to the environment (Gifford, Kormos & McIntyre, 2011). In particular, fossil fuels create a large abundance of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, which is extremely problematic to Earth. When significant amounts of greenhouse gases become
Ongoing practices of deforestation will cause detrimental effect on the entire ecosystem throughout Asia and the world. It is evident that deforestation contributes a substantial volume of carbon emissions globally, with deforestation in most developing countries accounting for approximately 30 percent of global emissions (Johnson 2009). Dense atmospheric CO2 concentrations from land clearing and logging will produce too much carbon dioxide to linger in the atmosphere. Moreover, forest fires are resulting from deforestation as moisture from the soils are dried up, therefore causing further destruction of forests (Mongabay 2006). Once the trees are burnt, it will also release leftover carbon that was previously stored as carbon dioxide within it. This will lead to greater concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which would then modify the surface temperature due to the creating a
In addition, human activities like deforestation may increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is because forests help in carbon sequestration, which reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. It follows then that clearing such tress will increase the amount of carbon dioxide since carbon sequestration will not occur (3). The man-made theory of climate change also explains that when these harmful gasses reach the atmosphere, they form a blanket, which traps heat in the atmosphere. This trapping of in the atmosphere is the phenomenon that causes the planet to get warmer, hence the term global warming (Sharma, 4).
Deforestation, the cutting and burning of a forest, also increases the amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A NASA page says that “when a forest is cut and burned to establish cropland and pastures, the carbon that was stored in the tree trunks (wood is about 50% carbon) joins with oxygen and is released into the atmosphere as CO2. CO2, is, of
Since the dawn of the industrial evolution, Earth’s atmosphere has taken a beating. Fossil fuels are being consumed at an alarming rate resulting in CO2 in our atmosphere increasing dramatically. By increasing CO2 levels in our atmosphere, it results in global warming and climate change. Today fossil fuels, coal, gas, and oil, contribute to about 80% of the world’s energy needs. These fuels are expected to contribute to a majority of the power for decades to come. Nevertheless, with using these fuels, carbon dioxide is being released into our atmosphere. The level of CO2 has been increasing dramatically over the years and even over the past 54 years, we have increased the CO2 concentration in our atmosphere by about 100 ppm (parts per
Carbon dioxide is a minor component of the Earth’s atmosphere accounting for approximately 0.04%. Despite carbon dioxide’s relatively low atmospheric concentration, it’s believed that it is the most important long-long lived forcing of climate change in the atmosphere. (Pachauri & Reisinger, 2007)