The biological pump transports organic matter, created by phytoplankton productivity in the well-lit surface ocean, to the ocean's dark interior, where it is consumed by animals and heterotrophic microbes and remineralized back to inorganic forms. This downward transport of organic matter sequesters carbon dioxide from exchange with the atmosphere on timescales of months to millennia, depending on where in the water column the respiration occurs. There are three primary export pathways that link the upper ocean to the interior: the gravitational, migrant, and mixing pumps. These pathways are regulated by vastly different mechanisms, making it challenging to quantify the impacts of the biological pump on the global carbon cycle. In this review, we assess progress toward creating a global accounting of carbon export and sequestration via the biological pump and suggest a path toward achieving this goal.

中文翻译：

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量化海洋生物泵及其碳循环对全球范围的影响

生物泵将光线充足的海洋表层浮游植物生产力产生的有机物质输送到海洋黑暗的内部，在那里被动物和异养微生物消耗，并重新矿化回无机形式。有机物质的向下输送会在数月到数千年的时间尺度上封存二氧化碳，使其不与大气交换，具体取决于呼吸作用在水体中发生的位置。连接上层海洋和内陆的主要输出路径有三个：重力泵、移民泵和混合泵。这些途径受到截然不同的机制的调节，因此量化生物泵对全球碳循环的影响具有挑战性。在这篇综述中，我们评估了通过生物泵建立全球碳出口和封存核算的进展，并提出了实现这一目标的路径。