A carbon reservoir that absorbs and stores carbon from another part of the carbon cycle. A sink stores more carbon than it emits to the atmosphere. This store of carbon can also be termed a reservoir or pool. Although a growing forest can be considered a carbon sink, when the forest stops growing and its trees die and start decomposing, it becomes a carbon source, because it emits more carbon than it stores.

an area which stores and traps carbon dioxide

a storage reservoir for carbon

Components of the land and biomass where carbon is held in non-gaseous form for substantial periods of time.

Carbon sinks are areas that absorb and hold onto lots of carbon dioxide – oceans, soil and forests. A carbon "sink" can become a carbon "source." For example, a growing forest is a carbon sink as it absorbs more carbon than it releases. But when it burns, it becomes a carbon "source" as it releases lots of carbon into the atmosphere. (See "Carbon cycle.")

A carbon pool, such as a well-managed, older forest, which has more carbon flowing into it than flows out. Forests are the best sinks because they are the most efficient means of taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it for the long term.

Something that absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Vegetation is the most important carbon sink. Using photosynthesis, land plants and marine plants convert great quantities of carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight energy into oxygen and carbohydrates.

A carbon sink is a reservoir that can absorb or "sequester" carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Forests are the most common form of sink, as well as soils, peat, permafrost, ocean water and carbonate deposits in the deep ocean.

A pool (or reservoir) that absorbs or takes up released carbon from another part of the carbon cycle. For example, if the net exchange between the biosphere and the atmosphere is toward the atmosphere, the biosphere is the source, and the atmosphere is the sink.

A reservoir that absorbs or takes up released carbon from another part of the carbon cycle. The four sinks, which are regions of the Earth within which carbon behaves in a systematic manner, are the atmosphere, terrestrial biosphere (usually including freshwater systems), oceans, and sediments (including fossil fuels).

is a process that absorbs greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The carbon sinks of the oceans and lands tie down about half of carbon dioxide emissions from human activities thereby slowing down climate change.

A pool (reservoir) that absorbs or takes up released carbon from another part of the carbon cycle. (Source: Adapted from Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center)

A reservoir that absorbs or takes up released carbon from other parts of the carbon cycle

A part of the earth that permanently removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and binds it in organic compounds. The most important carbon sinks are the world's oceans and forests.

Any process, activity or mechanism that removes a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. Trees are carbon sinks.

Forests, by their growth, transform gaseous carbon into solid form, thereby absorbing CO2 while simultaneously producing oxygen. Forests, agricultural land use and the world's oceans are considered to be carbon sinks by current-day science.

A reservoir that absorbs or takes up released carbon from another part of the carbon cycle. Vegetation and soils are common carbon sinks.

A component of the Earth system that absorbs carbon compounds, otherwise known as a reservoir or pool, eg the ocean.

reservoir that receives carbon from another carbon reservoir. Commonly used to denote a reservoir where the carbon amount increases because its total carbon received from all other reservoirs exceeds its total carbon transfer to the other reservoirs.