Carbon Cycle Is a Complex Term Paper

Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere heats the earth, and trapped water in ice melts, raising the sea levels and placing more water into the atmosphere in some areas, and in other areas greater evaporation.

Analysis - Our analysis considers a typical American backyard, this one with a pool next to the house. We can visualize the carbon and water cycle in this environment in several ways:

1. Organic Carbon is present in the soil from fossils, dead organisms, and waste products, as well as decaying organisms based on what look to be deciduous trees that will lose their leaves to decay during the Fall and Winter months.

2. While not visually seen, there are likely numbers of organisms eating the vegetative matter (insects, herbivores), while the insects also feed birds and other creatures; depositing their waste for additional plant fuel.

3. Photosynthesis occurs as plant respiration, releasing carbon into the atmosphere.

4. The area is relatively lush with large trees, giving us the hint that it is a temperate environment, certainly one in which an outdoor pool can be enjoyed during parts of the year. Water likely falls regularly, goes into the soil, and is returned to the atmosphere through respiration, condensation, and in a small way, evaporation from the pool.

5.Water for the pool (and the household) are likely provided by a municipal water department, treated for disease and bacterial organisms, and available through a hose for a fee.

6. The pool water, however, is also likely treated with chlorine or other algaecide and bacteria reducing chemical, since water is not continually flowing and filtering through a waterfall or soil because of the cement enclosure.

7. All the materials for the pool have likely been artificially constructed using fossil fuels as a basis for energy, their exhaust contributing to more carbon in the atmosphere. This would particularly be true in the manufacture of the plastics we see in the slide and various chairs, etc. surrounding the pool.

REFERENCES

Field, C. And Rapupach, M., eds. (2004). The Global Carbon Cycle: Integrating Humans,

Climate, and the Natural World. Washington, DC: SCOPE Publishers.

Harman, R. (2005). The Water Cycle. Chicago, IL: Heinermann Library.

Wilkinson, D. (2007). Fundamental Processes in….....