In the case of non-CO 2 greenhouse gases, sinks need not store the gas. In the context of climate change and in particular mitigation, a sink is defined as "Any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere". In addition to enhancing natural processes, investments in artificial sequestration initiatives are underway to store carbon in building materials or deep underground. These efforts counter historical trends caused by practices like deforestation and industrial agriculture which depleted natural carbon sinks land use, land-use change, and forestry historically have been important human contributions to climate change. Many efforts are being made to enhance natural carbon sinks, mainly soils and forests, to mitigate climate change. As a main carbon sink, the ocean removes excess greenhouse gas emissions such as heat and energy. Deep blue carbon is located in the high seas beyond national jurisdictions and includes carbon contained in "continental shelf waters, deep-sea waters and the sea floor beneath them. Coastal blue carbon includes mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses which make up a majority of ocean plant life and store large quantities of carbon. " Blue carbon" designates carbon that is fixed via the ocean ecosystems. Much of the organic carbon retained in the soil of agricultural areas has been depleted due to intensive farming. Soil is an important carbon storage medium. Globally, the two most important carbon sinks are vegetation and the ocean. A carbon sink is a type of carbon pool that has the capability to take up more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases. An overarching term is carbon pool, which is all the places where carbon can be (the atmosphere, oceans, soil, plants, and so forth). These sinks form an important part of the natural carbon cycle. Ī carbon sink is anything, natural or otherwise, that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period and thereby removes carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the atmosphere. Together, they are part of the carbon budget which is no longer in balance since the 1850s, causing a nearly 50% rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. Carbon sinks (green bars on the right) remove carbon from the atmosphere, whereas carbon sources ( greenhouse gas emissions) (grey bars on the left) add them.
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