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| Home » Greenhouse gas reduction » Carbon Dioxide Sinks
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Carbon Dioxide Sinks |
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Carbon Dioxide Sinks are the large storehouses of carbon dioxide for longer period of time. In fact, the process by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere is known as carbon sinks.
There is huge amount of carbon dioxide present in the air which is harmful for the existence of living beings. Moreover, economists are alarmed by the global warming. Hence, it is essential to control the emission of carbon dioxide in the environment.
Sequestration is the process by which CO2 is removed from atmosphere. In this process, carbon dioxide is segregated from oxygen, which is left behind for respiration. However, green plants and trees also naturally help in alleviating carbon from air by inhaling it. They convert CO2 into mass and release oxygen in air.
Carbon dioxide sinks are beneficial for the environment as they store the major greenhouse gas i.e. CO2. Along with carbon dioxide sinks, other efforts towards conservation also aid in minimizing negative effect of global warming on the environment. Even under Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty, nations try to reduce its carbon emission in order to achieve the target results.
The major natural sinks are oceans, which absorb carbon dioxide; plants and algae that use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. Soil is the long term medium that stores carbon dioxide. In fact, soil contains more carbon in comparison to other terrestrial vegetation as well as atmosphere. Regenerative agriculture is practiced on land, which consequently helps in sequestering about 40 percent of carbon emission.
Forests are also one of the major carbon dioxide sinks. Canada’s boreal forests are reported to absorb around 80 percent of carbon. Moreover, reforestation also helps in reducing carbon from atmosphere. Another way to accelerate the process of sequestration is to smaller particles of iron in the form of either iron sulfate i.e. melanterite or iron oxide i.e. hematite to regions of the ocean. This stimulates growth of plankton (migrating organisms) in water.
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