Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the ocean is comparable in magnitude to the total inventory of atmospheric CO₂, its biogeochemical behavior is critically important in understanding global carbon cycling and climate change. Marine microbial process can shape the chemical composition of the organic carbon and thereby influence the residence time of the carbon in the ocean. This process is coined “Microbial Carbon Pump (MCP)” which is analogous in function to the known biological pump, but different in mechanism from the biological pump.

The MCP is a conceptual framework which intends to cover a broad multidisciplinary ground and seek a synthesis for future research on the kinetic and mechanistic bases of DOC dynamics. To this end, microbiologists and biogeochemists need to work together to bridge the fields of microbial ecology and organic biogeochemistry. The WG134 on the MCP will document the state of the art in the microbial processing of organic carbon, acquire new insights through analyzing the available data on microbial biomass, production and diversity along with DOC data from a variety of marine environments, identify the priority scientific questions and provide the corresponding technical support in order to advance the relevant researches under the umbrella of the MCP. 

The SCOR WG134 on the MCP is co-chaired by Prof. Nianzhi Jiao from the State Key Lab for Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, China and Prof. Farooq Azam from Scripps Oceanography Institution, USA, and joined by 12 countries including China, USA, Germany, UK, France, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Czech, India and Korea. The MCP WG will work for 4 years starting from 2009.