Earth is what type of system

Carbon, existing in a variety of forms, is the very basis of life, and its greatest reservoir. In the atmosphere, carbon fully oxidized as carbon dioxide , fully reduced as methane , and in particulate form as black carbon soot produces the greenhouse effect making Earth habitable. Earth's atmosphere and electromagnetic field protect the planet from harmful radiation while allowing useful radiation to reach the surface and sustain life.

Earth exists within the Sun's zone of habitation, and with the moon, maintains the precise orbital inclination needed to produce our seasons. These remarkable factors have contributed to Earth maintaining a temperature range conducive to the evolution of life for billions of years. The great circulation systems of Earth - water, carbon, and the nutrients-replenish what life needs and help regulate the climate system.

Earth is a dynamic planet; the continents, atmosphere, oceans, ice, and life ever-changing, ever interacting in myriad ways. These complex and interconnected processes comprise the Earth system, which forms the basis of the scientific research and space observation that we refer to as Earth system science. In Earth system science, researchers take a contextual approach to scientific inquiry - they explore extreme weather events in the context of changing climate, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the context of tectonic shifts, and losses in biodiversity in the context of changes in Earth's ecosystems.

This leads to the exploration and discovery of causes and effects in the environment. For instance, Earth system scientists have linked ocean temperatures and circulation to the moderate climate of northern Europe relative to its latitude, the annual changes of ozone concentration over Antarctica with the production of industrial refrigerants in the Northern Hemisphere, and the physics and chemistry of the atmosphere to air quality and fresh water availability.

From space, we can view the Earth as a whole system, observe the net results of complex interactions, and begin to understand how the planet is changing in response to natural and human influences. A cycle is a collection of connected, on-going processes that circulates a common component throughout a system — such cycles are continuous with no beginning or end.

Examples in the Earth system include the rock cycle , the food chain, the carbon cycle , the nitrogen cycle , the water cycle and energy cycles. This response occurs because the subsystem attempts to maintain its stability, so if one variable changes, other variables may be affected to varying degrees.

This degree of response also describes how stable or unstable these systems are. For example, a glacier is a relatively unstable system — if the temperature in the atmosphere rises above the melting point of ice, the glacier melts and decreases in ice and the glacier retreats. On a bigger scale, the rising temperature in the atmosphere in a region can bring on a cascade of environmental changes to restore equilibrium across the subsystems, such as changes in evaporation and transpiration rates, weather patterns such as winds and precipitationsalinity of water bodies like lakes and seas, and type of species and numbers of organisms.

Each response to a change can trigger a string of interconnected responses, which makes the repercussions of any single change in this complex and dynamic Earth system difficult to predict. The water cycle is the result of a collection of connected processes that distribute water and energy throughout the Earth system in cyclic patterns.

Over time, on-going and repeated change in the distribution and form of water and energy around the globe is caused by processes like evaporation, condensation, freezing, melting, convection currents and infiltration.

The main components of the earth system are interconnected by flows also known as pathways or fluxes of energy and materials. The most important flows in the earth system are those concerned with the transfer of energy and the cycling of key materials in biogeochemical cycles. The earth is a vast, complex system powered by two sources of energy: an internal source the decay of radioactive elements in the geosphere, which generates geothermal heat and an external source the solar radiation received from the Sun ; the vast majority of the energy in the earth system comes from the Sun.

Whilst some variations in these two sources occur, their energy supplies are relatively constant and they power all of the planet's environmental systems. Indeed, energy both drives and flows through environmental systems, and energy pathways may be highly complex and difficult to identify.

For instance, energy may take the form of latent heat which is absorbed or released when substances change state for example, between the liquid and gaseous phases. An example of energy flow and transformation through an ecosystem is illustrated in 2. Energy is transferred within and between environmental systems in three main ways:. As well as being transferred within environmental systems, energy may also be transformed from one form to another; for instance, a rock fall involves the conversion of potential energy due to gravity to kinetic energy due to movement and to thermal energy , or heat due to friction.

The transfer and transformation of energy are associated with the performance of work ; hence the sun performs work in heating the earth by its radiation, and a glacier performs work in moving sediment down-slope using the kinetic energy of its ice, water and rock.

When work is carried out within the earth system, energy is transferred from one body to another, and it may also be converted from one form to another in the process. Throughout environmental systems, as energy is transformed from one form to another in performing work, heat is released; that heat is subsequently exported from the system, usually into the atmosphere and then into space.

Yet the total energy content of the earth system remains the same it is conserved , for energy cannot be created or destroyed. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. Of all of that water, only about three percent is freshwater. An even smaller amount can be used as drinking water. Earth is the planet we live on, the third of eight planets in our solar system and the only known place in the universe to support life.

Our planet began as part of a cloud of dust and gas. It has evolved into our home, which has an abundance of rocky landscapes, an atmosphere that supports life, and oceans filled with mysteries. We live at the bottom of an invisible ocean called the atmosphere, a layer of gases surrounding our planet. Nitrogen and oxygen account for 99 percent of the gases in dry air, with argon, carbon dioxide, helium, neon, and other gases making up minute portions.

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