Pathways of organic carbon export and sequestration by the biological pump*

This talk will provide an overview of the biological pump pathways that connect the surface and deep ocean. I will present a summary of the mechanisms of organic carbon export, including the gravitation, mixing, and migrant pumps, and how these are represented in current models. I will then introduce the concept of carbon sequestration and discuss how it can be estimated from models and geochemical data. I will summarize recent work combining models and observations to constrain the pathways of organic carbon export and sequestration in the ocean, including estimates of the sequestration time of exported carbon.