Peatland Carbon Balance: Water Table & Decomposition (2D)

This 2D companion drives the same underlying biogeochemistry as the 3D peatland scene through a plain cross-section built for reading the carbon cycle rather than walking through a bog: photosynthetic carbon uptake by peat-forming vegetation is weighed each frame against water-table-controlled decomposition — a fast oxic pathway in the aerobic layer above the water table and a far slower anoxic pathway below it — so dragging the water-table slider visibly flips the peatland between a long-term carbon sink and an active carbon source, exactly as drained vs. intact peatlands behave in the field.