Study Aid/Quiz, CO₂ and Climate Change

1. What causes the annual variations in the plot of CO₂ concentrations measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii during the last 50 years?

2. Match the reservoir with the amount of carbon it contains:

39,040 Gt
610 Gt
4200 Gt
40,000,000 Gt
760 Gt

_________ Atmospheric CO₂
_________ Oceanic dissolved CO₂, carbonate ion CO₃^2-, and bicarbonate ion HCO₃^-
_________ Living biomass
_________ Fossil fuel
_________ Limestone in sedimentary rocks

3. How do oceanographers measure primary productivity in the oceans? What affects the distribution of the abundance of phytoplankton?

4. If the biomass increases due to increased CO₂ levels, will the greenhouse effect be reduced and global warming impeded?

5. Does carbonate or silicate weathering (or both) remove CO₂ from the atmosphere?