North American Carbon Program CH. Support long-term quantitative measurements of fluxes, sources, and sinks of atmospheric CO and CH, and develop forecasts for future trends. The North American Carbon Program was designed to help with the process of providing data needed to model the synthesis activities. The carbon cycle is subdivided into two sections, the rapid carbon exchange, and long-term cycling of carbon through the various geological processes. This carbon cycle occurs in our biological processes, including respiration, photosynthesis, and is generated by autotrophs. Autotrophs (usually photosynthetic) are plants or algae, which capture the carbon dioxide from the air. In water, the compounds removed
Carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels remains in the atmosphere and is not absorbed by vegetation and the oceans. While transparent to visible light, carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, absorbing and emitting infrared radiation at its two infrared-active vibrational frequencies (see the section "Structure and bonding" above). Light emission from the earth's surface is most intense in the infrared region between 200 and 2500 cm, as opposed to light emission from the much hotter sun which is most intense in the visible region. Absorption of infrared light at the vibrational frequencies of atmospheric carbon dioxide traps energy near the