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Carbon is among the most abundant substances in the universe; although severely depleted on Earth, it is the primary structural element in biochemistry. Complex interactions between carbon and climate have stabilized the Earth system over geologic time. Since the modern instrumental CO2 record began in the 1950s, about half of fossil fuel emissions have been sequestered in the oceans and land ecosystems. Ocean uptake of fossil CO2 is governed by chemistry and circulation. Net land uptake is surprising because it implies a persistent worldwide excess of growth over decay. Land carbon sinks include (a) CO2 fertilization, (b) nitrogen fertilization, (c) forest regrowth following agricultural abandonment, and (d) boreal warming. Carbon sinks in both land and oceans are threatened by warming and are likely to weaken or even reverse as emissions fall with the potential for amplification of climate change due to the release of previously stored carbon. Fossil CO2 will persist for centuries and perhaps many millennia after emissions cease.
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