Tiny plankton drive processes in the ocean that capture twice as much carbon as scientists thought

Ken Buesseler, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The ocean plays a major role in the global carbon cycle. The driving force comes from tiny plankton that produce organic carbon through photosynthesis, like plants on land.

Deep sea carbon reservoirs once superheated the Earth – could it happen again?

Lowell D. Stott, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

As concern grows over human-induced climate change, many scientists are looking back through Earth’s history to events that can shed light on changes occurring today. Analyzing how the planet’s climate system has changed in the past improves our understanding of how it may behave in the future.

Climate explained: why carbon dioxide has such outsized influence on Earth’s climate

Jason West, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.

If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz

I heard that carbon dioxide makes up 0.04% of the world’s atmosphere. Not 0.4% or 4%, but 0.04%! How can it be so important in global warming if it’s such a small percentage?

I am often asked how carbon dioxide can have an important effect on global climate when its concentration is so small – just 0.041% of Earth’s atmosphere. And human activities are responsible for just 32% of that amount.