Reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is imperative to stabilizing our future climate. Our ability to reduce these emissions combined with an understanding of how much fossil-fuel-derived CO2 the oceans and plants can absorb is central to mitigating climate change. In The Carbon Cycle, leading scientists examine how atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have changed in the past and how this may affect the concentrations in the future. They look at the carbon budget and the 'missing sink' for carbon dioxide. They offer approaches to modeling the carbon cycle, providing mathematical tools for predicting future levels of carbon dioxide. This comprehensive text incorporates findings from the recent IPCC reports. New insights, and a convergence of ideas and views across several disciplines make this book an important contribution to the global change literature. It will be an invaluable resource for students and researchers working in the field.

Table of Contents:
Preface; Acknowledgements; Part I. Introduction: 1. Introduction; 2. Excerpts from 1994 and 1995 IPCC Reports; Part II. The Missing Carbon Sink: 3. Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel consumption and cement manufacture, 1751-1991 and an estimate of their isotopic composition and latitudinal distribution; 5. Emissions of carbon from land-use change; 6. The CO2 fertilizing effect: relevance to the global carbon cycle; 7. Soils and the global carbon cycle; 8. Grasslands and the global carbon cycle: modeling the effects of climate change; 9. Constraints on the atmospheric carbon budget from spatial distributions of CO2; 10. Estimating air-sea exchanges of CO2 from pCO2 gradients: assessment of uncertainties; 11. Atmospheric oxygen measurements and the carbon cycle; a strategy for estimating the potential soil carbon storage due to CO2 fertilization; Part III. Paleo-CO2 Variations: 12. Isotope and carbon cycle inferences; 13. Shallow water carbonate deposition and its effect on the carbon cycle; Part IV. Modeling CO2 Changes: 14. Future fossil fuel carbon emissions without policy intervention: a review; 15. The future role of reforestation in reducing the buildup of atmospheric CO2; 16. Simple ocean carbon cycle models; 17. Very high-resolution estimates of global ocean circulation, suitable for carbon cycle modeling; 18. Effects of ocean circulation change on atmospheric CO2; 19. Box models of the terrestrial biosphere; 20. Impacts of climate and CO2 on the terrestrial carbon cycle; 21. Stabilization of CO2 concentration levels; Part V. Appendix 1. Organizing committee; Appendix 2. Working group members; Appendix 3. Reviewers.