carbon sink

noun

plural carbon sinks

: a location (such as the ocean, the soil, or a forest) that stores substances which contain carbon and especially carbon dioxide

Advocates of "sequestration" argue that the ocean already functions as the world's largest carbon sink: it contains 50 times more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere, most of which is stored in sediments on the ocean floor.

—Linda Baker

Research has found that drought and declining water availability are increasingly impeding the ability of tropical ecosystems to soak up carbon dioxide, making the tropics a less effective carbon sink.

—Glenn Scherer

Peatlands serve as a major carbon sink. Their defining feature is a thick soil layer of leaf litter and other dead vegetation in a waterlogged state, meaning it can't fully decompose, which prevents vast amounts of carbon emissions.

—Isabel Esterman

Examples of carbon sink in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The ocean is one of the world's largest carbon sinks, which allows carbon to be removed from the atmosphere. —Devika Rao, theweek, 11 Nov. 2024

However this type of action has no direct effects on increasing the country’s carbon sink for which logging and peatland degradation reduced the possibility for trees and peat so absorb carbon. —Daniela De Lorenzo, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2024

What strategies can be employed by African nations with vast forests—such as Gabon, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, and Congo—to effectively leverage these critical carbon sinks? —Tony O. Elumelu, TIME, 16 Oct. 2024

But the damage humans inflict, including destroying wetlands and tearing down forests, is depleting these carbon sinks and accelerating global warming. —Laura Paddison, CNN, 16 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above