Earth System

The Earth system is the sum of our planet’s interacting physical, chemical, and biological processes---the land, oceans, atmosphere, frozen poles, the grand natural cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur; the movement of water between sea, sky, rivers and ice, and tectonics.


EARTH SYSTEM

"The Earth system is the sum of our planet’s interacting physical, chemical, and biological processes. It includes the land, the oceans, the atmosphere and the frozen poles. It takes in the grand natural cycles through which vital elements like carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur circulate around the planet; the movement of water between sea, sky, rivers and ice; the imperceptibly slow events deep beneath our feet that create and destroy continents and oceans.

Living things are part of the system too. For example, ocean plankton absorb carbon dioxide from the air to make their shells; after death their bodies sink to the seabed, where that carbon is locked up for millennia in layers of sediment that are slowly compressed to make limestone.

Humans are no exception. We aren’t an outside force disturbing the natural order of things – we’re an integral part of the Earth system ourselves. But as our societies have grown, the impact of our actions has increased too; we’re now among the main causes of environmental change.

For example, the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere varies naturally, but levels of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere are now higher than at any time in the last one million years, possibly 15 million. Our great dams are trapping gigatonnes of sediment; our farms are draining aquifers. In many places this is happening faster than they can refill; our appetite for land is clearing enormous swathes of forest. We are remaking the Earth system itself. But we don’t know where this will lead."

RELATED ARTICLESExplain
Planet Under Pressure
1. State of the Planet
Breaching key thresholds and boundaries
Earth System
Human population-environment thresholds in earth systems?
IGBP Climate Index
Arctic sea ice may have passed crucial tipping point
Atmospheric methane and carbon dioxide
Extreme weather and climate events
Graph of this discussion
Enter the title of your article


Enter a short (max 500 characters) summation of your article
Enter the main body of your article
Lock
+Comments (0)
+Citations (1)
+About
Enter comment

Select article text to quote
welcome text

First name   Last name 

Email

Skip