The biological carbon pump (BCP) transports carbon into the deep ocean, leading to long-term marine carbon sequestration. It is driven by many physical, chemical, and ecological processes. We developed a model of the BCP constrained using data from 11 cruises in 4 different ocean regions. Our results show that sinking particles and vertical mixing are more important than transport mediated by vertically migrating zooplankton. They also highlight the uncertainty in current estimates of the BCP.