Introduction to the Earth System

1
Introduction to the Earth System

• Ellen Metzger
• Bay Area Earth Science Institute
• July 28-30, 2009
• San Jose State University

2
The Earth System

• Earth is a complex system of interacting
  physical, chemical and biological processes, and
  provides a natural laboratory whose experiments
  have been running since the beginning of time.

NASA
Source http//serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/earthsys
tem/nutshell/
3
Earth System Science

• Earth is a dynamic body
• with many separate, but
• highly interacting parts or
• spheres.
• Earth system science
• studies Earth as a system
• composed of numerous
• parts, or subsystems.

4
What is Earth System Science?

• Earth system science
• embraces chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics
  and applied sciences in transcending disciplinary
  boundaries to treat the Earth as an integrated
  system
• provides a physical basis for understanding the
  world in which we live and upon which humankind
  seeks to achieve sustainability.

Source http//serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/earthsys
tem/nutshell/
5

 
The Earth System M. Ruzek, 1999
M. Ruzek, 1999
6
Earths Interacting Spheres
Cosmosphere
Source Dr. Rick Behl CSU Long Beach
7
Earth System Science A Paradigm Shift
"The organizing power of the evolutionary
paradigm... is paralleled by the organizing
power of an Earth system perspective." Panel
1, Shaping the Future of Undergraduate Earth
Science Education
8
Earth System Science Themes

• 1. Interactions of Spheres
• Earth is made of several subsystems or spheres
  that interact to form a complex and continuously
  changing whole called the Earth system.  
• What is a system?
• Can you think of some examples?
• 2. Scale
• Scale of processes operating in the Earth system
• vary from fractions of millimeters to thousands
  of
• kilometers and from milliseconds to billions of
• years.

9
Source NASA
10
Overlapping Cycles in the Earth System
Source http//www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/GRAPHIC0/Astron
omy/EarthSystems.gif
11
Earth's Spheres"

• Hydrosphere
• Ocean the most prominent feature of the
  hydrosphere
• Nearly 71 of Earth's surface
• About 97 of Earth's water
• Also includes fresh water- streams, lakes, and
  glaciers, and groundwater

12
Earth's Spheres"

• Atmosphere
• Thin, tenuous blanket of air
• One half lies below 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles)
• Biosphere
• Includes all life
• Concentrated near Earths surface

13
Earth's Spheres"

• Geosphere (Solid Earth)
• Rocks, minerals, and soils and the processes
• that affect them
• Cosmosphere
• The Universe surrounding the Earth system