© Fundación BBVA, 2011 www.fbbva.es ISBN: 978-84-92937-04-2 The Role of Marine Biota in the Functioning of the Biosphere Carlos M. Duarte (Ed.) Offprint of the Chapter CHAPTER 4 THE ROLE OF MARINE BIOTA IN THE CO 2 BALANCE OF THE OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE SYSTEM by Jorge L. Sarmiento 1 , Anand Gnanadesikan 2 , Irina Marinov 3 and Richard D. Slater 1 1 Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program Princeton University. Princeton, NJ, United States 2 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Princeton University. Princeton, NJ, United States 3 Department of Earth and Environmental Science University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, PA, United States