Editing Carbon sink (section)

== Definition ==
In the context of [[climate change]] and in particular [[Climate change mitigation|mitigation]], a ''sink'' is defined as "Any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere".<ref name="IPCC AR6 WGI Glossary">IPCC, 2021: [https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_AnnexVII.pdf Annex VII: Glossary] [Matthews, J.B.R., V. Möller, R. van Diemen, J.S. Fuglestvedt, V. Masson-Delmotte, C.  Méndez, S. Semenov, A. Reisinger (eds.)]. In [https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/ Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 2215–2256, doi:10.1017/9781009157896.022.</ref>{{rp|2249}}

In the case of non-{{CO2}} greenhouse gases, sinks need not store the gas. Instead they can break it down into substances that have a reduced effect on global warming. For example, [[nitrous oxide]] can be reduced to harmless [[nitrogen|N<sub>2</sub>]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = CHAPUIS-LARDY L, WRAGE N, CHOTTE J, BERNOUX M  | title =Soils, a sink for N2O? A review | journal = [[Global Change Biology]] | volume = 13| pages =1–17  | date = 2007  | issue =1 | doi =10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01280.x  | bibcode =2007GCBio..13....1C | s2cid =86551302 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Cobo S, Negri V, Valente A, Reiner D, Hamelin L, Dowell N, Guillén-Gosálbez G  | title = Sustainable scale-up of negative emissions technologies and practices: where to focus | journal = [[Environmental Research Letters]] | year = 2023 | volume =18 | issue = 2 | page = 023001 | doi = 10.1088/1748-9326/acacb3 | bibcode = 2023ERL....18b3001C | s2cid = 254915878 | hdl = 20.500.11850/596686 | hdl-access = free }}</ref>

Related terms are "carbon pool, reservoir, [[Carbon sequestration|sequestration]], [[Carbon source|source]] and uptake".<ref name="IPCC AR6 WGI Glossary" />{{rp|2249}} The same publication defines ''carbon pool'' as "a  reservoir in the Earth system where elements, such as carbon [...], reside in various chemical forms for a period of time."<ref name="IPCC AR6 WGI Glossary" />{{rp|2244}}

Both carbon pools and carbon sinks are important concepts in understanding the [[carbon cycle]], but they refer to slightly different things. A carbon pool can be thought of as the overarching term, and carbon sink is then a particular type of carbon pool:<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is a Carbon Sink? |url=https://greenly.earth/en-us/blog/company-guide/what-is-a-carbon-sink |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=greenly.earth |language=en-us}}</ref> A carbon pool is all the places where carbon can be stored (for example the atmosphere, oceans, soil, plants, and fossil fuels).<ref name="IPCC AR6 WGI Glossary" />{{rp|2244}}