Carbon Journey ELF Activity: Energy 1C As part of NOAA Environmental Literacy Grant #NA09SEC to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's, ANDRILL Science Management Office. This material is based on work supported by an Environmental Literacy Grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Education (NA0909SEC ) and prior work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants ANT and ESI Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NOAA or the NSF.

Image: Smithsonian Museum Image: Mineral Information Institute Carbon in its elemental form as graphite, familiar in most pencils. Carbon in its elemental form as a diamond.

Carbon as a gas compound: carbon dioxide, CO 2. Image: Image: Carbon as an element in a solid compound: coal. Image: Carbon as an element in a solid compound. This is the mineral calcium carbonate, or limestone, CaCO 3.

Here you see the larger reservoirs: atmosphere, oceans, fossil fuels, the land, and the biosphere. TERRESTRIAL BIOSPHERE OCEANS FOSSIL FUELS ATMOSPHERE Image: The Carbon Cycle The movement of carbon through Earth’s systems is influenced by many geological, biological and physical processes.

Carbon Sinks and Reservoirs Images: Photosynthesis is a process where plants remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and using the energy from the sun, create sugars, proteins and other solid carbon-based compounds within the structure of the plants.

Carbon Sinks and Reservoirs Shells formed by marine animals remove carbon from the atmosphere and the ocean.

Carbon Sinks and Reservoirs Images: Some of the single-celled organisms which absorb dissolved carbon dioxide from the oceans. Satellite image showing chlorophyll blooms in the oceans. These blooms indicate large amounts of single-celled organisms undergoing photosynthesis.

Carbon Sinks and Reservoirs Sediments being formed at the bottom of the ocean. These sediments play an important role in long term carbon storage. Sediment cores from the ocean floor showing another‘sink’ where carbon is stored.

Carbon Source Volcanoes release large amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere. Fires take solid carbon stored in trees and shrubs and return it to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. The burning of fossil fuels to produce heat and electricity return large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Carbon Source Another source of carbon dioxide is the decomposition of organic material which returns large amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

The carbon cycle has been going on throughout the history of the Earth.

The carbon cycle has been going on throughout the history of the Earth. Image: UNEP/GRID-Arendal

This material is based on work supported by an Environmental Literacy Grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Education (NA09SEC ) and prior work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants ANT and ESI Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the National Science Foundation.