Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 06/29/2007 - 05:19
Forums
Arctic Tundra Dynamics

Hey Mr. WIlder. THis is Ben and i think i have a question now. Or actually an answer. To your sea swimming question. I think its the Indian Ocean. My next question involves teh actual carbon readings. You used quite a few large words in your posts and i admittedy got a bit dumfounded. Are the readings higher than what we want to see or not? Im about to head to the beach for the July 4 week so i wont be posting another question. I hope you had a great time and hoipe you have a safe trip home. Ben

Sat, 06/30/2007 - 22:30

Rob Wilder

Hi Ben,

You are correct about the Indian Ocean.  Probably not the toughest question you've ever had to answer.  I was also corrected that there are actually 5 oceans, counting the Southern Ocean that is around Antarctica.  That will make it very tough to swim in all the world's oceans.

As for the carbon readings, we are not necassarily looking for higher or lower values.  When NEE is positive, there is a net increase in carbon stored as biomass in the plants.  When it is negative there is a net loss of carbon to the atmosphere due to greater respiration than photosynthesis.  The carbon that I am talking about is carbon in carbon dioxide.