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

Many lands act as carbon sinks, and in many cases — including in most states in the eastern United States — climate change can increase how much ecosystems absorb, since there’s more carbon in the air for plants to suck up. —Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2025

But one more factor has firmly flipped the Arctic tundra from being a carbon sink to a carbon source: wildfires. —Umair Irfan, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018

Boreal forests are dying off, potentially tipping from a net carbon sink into a net carbon source. —Matt Simon, WIRED, 27 Nov. 2019

Founder Annabel Thomas has expressed concerns about the sustainability of peat use, highlighting its role as a carbon sink and biodiverse habitat. —Lauren Mowery, Forbes, 17 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above