Earth inhales and exhales carbon in mesmerizing animation

The animation by Reichstein is cool. The image is from the Creative Commons license.

A new animation shows how carbon is taken up and released as the seasons change.
During the summertime, the animated continents deflate, indicating times and places where vegetation is growing and plants are sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The continents seem to inflate in winter, indicating that vegetation is dying off and carbon is being released.
The seasonal differences are more pronounced in North America and continental Europe. Some desert regions don't store or release much carbon, while the equator doesn't change much throughout the year.
The data for the animation comes from hundreds of carbon-monitoring stations around the world, according to the director of the Biogeochemical Integration Department at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry in Germany.
Reichstein told Live Science that the visualization is a fun project.

Satellites can see signs of climate change.

An important portion of the carbon cycle is shown in the animation. Carbon can be released into the atmosphere by decaying organic material and by the erosion of rocks containing carbon compounds, but it can also be taken up by the oceans and plants.
The importance of plants is shown in the animation, which shows places such as the Brazilian Amazon and the forests of Eastern Europe taking in huge amounts of carbon in the southern and northern hemisphere summers. Reichstein said that the ocean doesn't show strong seasonal patterns because it takes in carbon.
Reichstein said that the flow of carbon in and out of the biosphere is changing because of climate change. He said that the changes are too small to show up on a visualization, but they will have different impacts in different places. He said that warmer summers in the Northern Hemisphere can be good for plant growth. Climate change can affect plant growth in areas with little precipitation.
Reichstein said how the carbon cycle changes from month to month tells us a lot. The message when it comes to societal impact is that forests are crucial to the planet's health. The Amazon, one of the biggest carbon sinks on the planet, has recently been releasing more carbon each year than it takes in, thanks to deforestation and wildfires.
He said that it shows how important it is to protect the carbon sinks.

It was originally published on Live Science.