biological pump

English

Noun

biological pump (plural biological pumps)

1. (earth science) The collection of biological ocean processes that regulate the uptake, storage, and release of carbon.
   • 2008, Steven R. Emerson, John Hedges, chapter 11, in Chemical Oceanography and the Marine Carbon Cycle, →ISBN, page 376:

     Thus, changes in the magnitude of the ocean's biological pump may have had a large influence on the f_CO2 of the atmosphere in the past and could also be important in controlling future f_CO2.