title: The global carbon cycle: a test of our knowledge of earth as a system.
abstract: Motivated by the rapid increase in atmospheric CO2 due to human activities since the Industrial Revolution, several international scientific research programs have analyzed the role of individual components of the Earth system in the global carbon cycle. Our knowledge of the carbon cycle within the oceans, terrestrial ecosystems, and the atmosphere is sufficiently extensive to permit us to conclude that although natural processes can potentially slow the rate of increase in atmospheric CO2, there is no natural "savior" waiting to assimilate all the anthropogenically produced CO2 in the coming century. Our knowledge is insufficient to describe the interactions between the components of the Earth system and the relationship between the carbon cycle and other biogeochemical and climatological processes. Overcoming this limitation requires a systems approach.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, 71 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Falkowski
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Scholes
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Canadell
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Canfield
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Elser
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hibbard
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Högberg
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Linder
authors.forename: F T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Mackenzie
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seitzinger
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Smetacek
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Steffen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001272:Atmosphere; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D002980:Climate; D018534:Earth, Planet; D017753:Ecosystem; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002244:Carbon