EARTH AS A SYSTEM

EARTH’S SUBSYTEMS
• includes all • the life zone of
water on Earth the Earth and
(including includes all living
surface water organisms, and all
and organic matter
that has not yet
groundwater)
decomposed

• comprises the solid •gaseous envelope that

Earth and includes surrounds the Earth
both Earth’s surface and constitutes the
and the various transition between its
layers of the Earth's and the vacuum of
space
interior
ATMOSPHERE- greek term “ATMOS” meaning AIR

•The atmosphere is primarily

composed of nitrogen (about 78%)
and oxygen (about 21%). Other
components exist in small quantities.
ATMOSPHERE- greek term “ATMOS” meaning AIR
ATMOSPHERE- greek term “ATMOS” meaning AIR
The Earth is surrounded by
a blanket of air, which we
call the atmosphere.
• Consists of four unique
layers
1.Troposphere
2.Stratosphere
3.Mesosphere
4.Thermosphere
Troposphere
• bottom layer in which we live
• temperature decreases with an increase in
altitude
• region where air “turns over”
• chief focus of meteorologists (layer that essentially
all important weather phenomena occur)
• 10 km (30,000 ft) at the poles and 17 km at the
equator (wider at the equator)
• 75% of the atmosphere’s mass
• tropopause : outer boundary of the troposphere
Stratosphere
• from the tropopause: 12-51 km
• temperature increases with height
• contains the ozonosphere (ozone layer)
• temperatures increase in the stratosphere because it is in
this layer that the atmosphere’s ozone is concentrated
• ozone absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the Sun
(stratosphere is heated)
• stratopause : outer boundary of the stratosphere
Mesosphere
• from the stratopause: 50-85 km
• temperature decreases with height
• coldest layer: -85ºC to -100ºC (coldest place on
Earth)
• least explored regions of the atmosphere
– it cannot be reached by the highest research balloons nor is it
accessible to the lowest orbiting satellites
• mesopause : outer boundary of the mesosphere
Thermosphere
• from the mesopause: 50 - 400 km
• warmest layer (1,000ºC – 1,500ºC)
– absorption of very short-wave, high-energy solar radiation
by oxygen and nitrogen
– gases of the thermosphere are moving at very high speed
– but gases are so sparse (insignificant quantity of heat)

• exobase: top of thermosphere, base of exosphere

Exosphere
• outermost layer
• from the exobase: 600 km
• atoms and molecules are so far apart that this
layer no longer behaves like gas

• represents the boundary

between the Earth‘s
atmosphere and outer space
• Theodore von Kármán
• first to calculate that around this
altitude,
the atmosphere becomes too
thin to support aeronautical flight
Ozone
• a form of oxygen that combines
three oxygen atoms into each molecule (O3)
• not the same as oxygen we breathe (O2)
• concentrated in the stratosphere
• oxygen molecules (O2) are split into single
atoms of oxygen (O) when they absorb
ultraviolet radiation from the Sun
• ozone is then created when a single atom of
oxygen (O) and a molecule of oxygen collide
• absorbs the potentially harmful ultraviolet
(UV) radiation from the Sun
Ozone
Ozone Depletion
Ozone Depletion
How do CFC’s cause
ozone depletion?
Ozone Depletion
Ozone Depletion
Ozone Depletion

The dark blue colors over Antarctica correspond to the region called the
ozone hole, which forms during the Southern Hemisphere spring.
Good job, human!
Montreal Protocol
• an international
agreement
developed under
the sponsorship
of the United
Nations to
eliminate the
production and
use of CFCs
CARBON CYCLE
Greenhouse Effect
• water vapor and carbon dioxide (like the glass
in a greenhouse)

• atmosphere is quite transparent to shorter-

wavelength solar radiation and more readily
absorbs longer-wavelength terrestrial
radiation
– the atmosphere is heated from the ground up rather than
vice versa
– the higher the altitude the lower the temperature
Greenhouse Effect (in a nutshell)
Greenhouse Effect
Kyoto Protocol

• an international
treaty that sets
binding obligations
on industrialized
countries to reduce
emissions
of greenhouse gases
ATMOSPHERE INTERACTIONS
Hydrosphere: The gases of the atmosphere readily
exchange with those dissolved in water bodies (e.g.
oceans, lakes, etc.)

Biosphere: The atmosphere supplies oxygen and

carbon dioxide that form the basis of life processes
(photosynthesis and respiration).

Geosphere: Gases in the atmosphere react with

water to produce weak acids that aid in the
breakdown of rock.
ATMOSPHERE INTERACTIONS
Hurricanes (atmosphere) sweep
across the ocean (hydrosphere) and
onto the land (geosphere), damaging
the dwellings of people (biosphere)
who live along the coast.
IMPORTANT ROLES OF THE ATMOSPHERE
1.Contains the gases that living organisms
need for survival (oxygen for respiration,
carbon dioxide for aerobic respiration).

2.Heat transfer

3.Ozone in stratosphere protects biosphere

from UV radiation.

4.Plays a part in weathering and erosion.

ATMOSPHERE INTERACTIONS
That’s
all!