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Science 16 July 2004:
Vol. 305. no. 5682, pp. 352 - 353
DOI: 10.1126/science.1100602
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Perspectives

Also see the archival list of Science's Compass: Enhanced Perspectives

OCEAN SCIENCE:
Enhanced: The Fate of Industrial Carbon Dioxide

Taro Takahashi

Not all of the carbon dioxide produced by humans ends up in the atmosphere, but exactly where it all ends up and how much is captured by the oceans have been longstanding mysteries. In his Perspective, Takahashi discusses results reported in the same issue by Sabine et al. and Feely et al. that address these questions. Sabine et al. used an extensive data set to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide taken up by the oceans. Feely et al. studied what happens to calcium carbonate shell material from ocean organisms and the impact of industrial carbon dioxide on organism growth and dissolution of the shells. Such improvements in understanding the sources and sinks of carbon should provide information needed to make decisions about how to constrain the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

The author is at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA. E-mail: taka{at}ldeo.columbia.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)