Carbon Cycle

  • Released Wednesday, November 5, 2003
View full credits

The Carbon Cycle - The carbon cycle on land, acted out here show a tree taking in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and combined with water and nutrients from the soil, growing. In the fall and winter, parts of the growth die off and release some carbon back into the system. At some point, the tree is no longer able to take in carbon and begins to die. When that happens, all the carbon absorbed in its body is released back into the cycle as it decomposes. Fire can accelerate this, sending plumes of carbon-laden aerosols into the atmosphere, as well as leaving carbon-rich ash deposits on the ground for further decomposition and recycling.

This is the standard definition version of the Carbon Cycle Land animation MPEG.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

This page was originally published on Wednesday, November 5, 2003.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:56 PM EDT.