<P> Three main processes ( or pumps ) that make up the marine carbon cycle bring atmospheric carbon dioxide ( CO ) into the ocean interior and distribute it through the oceans . These three pumps are : ( 1 ) the solubility pump , ( 2 ) the carbonate pump , and ( 3 ) the biological pump . The total active pool of carbon at the Earth 's surface for durations of less than 10,000 years is roughly 40,000 gigatons C ( Gt C , a gigaton is one billion tons , or the weight of approximately 6 million blue whales ) , and about 95 % ( ~ 38,000 Gt C ) is stored in the ocean , mostly as dissolved inorganic carbon . The speciation of dissolved inorganic carbon in the marine carbon cycle is a primary controller of acid - base chemistry in the oceans . </P>
chemical processes controlling the carbon flux between the ocean surface and the atmosphere
the solubility pump the carbonate pump the biological pump