EARTH’S SYSTEM

GEO01_CO1.5_Atmosphere, Biosphere & Interrelationship

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ATMOSPHERE
The gas that envelops the Earth and is
one of the reasons that it can support
life

Relatively shallow compared to the

Earth’s Geosphere

Composed of 78% Nitrogen, 21%

Oxygen and 1% of other gases such as From Tarbuck, Lutgens, & Tasa
CO2, Argon, Helium, Neon, Hydrogen Earth Science
Pearson Publishing
and etc.
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Photo taken from the shs.mapua.edu.ph
UCAR Center for Science Education
TROPOSPHERE
The lowest layer where all weather occurs.
The base is warmer than the uppermost portion because
the base is heated by the Earth’s surface that absorbs heat.

Environmental Lapse Rate

The rate of temperature decrease with an increase in
altitude

Normal lapse rate = 6.5°C/km in average

Tropopause – the outer boundary of the troposphere

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 STRATOSPHERE
Beyond the tropopause.

This is where the airplanes travel.

The site of the ozone layer that absorbs the sun’s UV

rays.
sunlight

The temperature remains constant to a height of

about 20 km and then begins a gradual increase that
continues until the stratopause at a height of nearly
50 km above Earth’s surface.
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MESOSPHERE
Extends upward from the stratosphere

Temperatures decreases with height until at the

mesopause, more than 80 km above the surface, the
temperature approaches -90°C.

The coldest temperatures anywhere in the

atmosphere occur at the mesopause.

One of the least explored regions of the atmosphere

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THERMOSPHERE
Above the mesosphere but has no well-defined upper
limit

Temperatures increase due to the absorption of very

short-wave, high-energy solar radiation by nitrogen
and oxygen atoms

The International Space Station orbits the Earth

within the middle of the thermosphere, between 330
and 435 kilometres (205 and 270 mi).

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 BIOSPHERE
The sphere that includes all life on
earth and a key part of the Carbon
Cycle
Ocean life is concentrated in the
surface water and most life on land is
concentrated near the surface as well.
From eSchooltoday
http://eschooltoday.com/earth-system/the-biosphere.html

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 BIOSPHERE
The Earth so far is the only one known to
hold life

Covers all ecosystems

• From soil to the rainforest, mangroves to
coral reefs, the plankton-rich ocean
surface to the deep sea

The base of the food chain is commonly the

photosynthetic organisms From eSchooltoday
http://eschooltoday.com/earth-system/the-biosphere.html

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FEEDBACK MECHANISM
Most natural systems have mechanisms to enhance change or to resist
change
NEGATIVE FEEDBACK POSITIVE FEEDBACK
MECHANISM MECHANISM
Resists change
Stabilize or maintain the system Enhances or drives changes

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Retrieved from
https://www.e-
education.psu.edu/earth103/
node/668

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CYCLES IN THE EARTH SYSTEM
• A cycle is a sequential process or phenomenon that returns to its beginning and then repeats
again.

• Matter is conserved in these cycles and one can observe the interaction between the
different systems.

• Cycles that occur in the Earth include

 Rock Cycle
 Hydrologic Cycle
 Nitrogen Cycle

• Other examples such as the Wilson Cycle (Tectonic Cycle), Milankovitch Cycle,
Biogeochemical Cycle, and etc.

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HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

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ROCK CYCLE

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NITROGE
N
CYCLE

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
How can you affect the Earth’s cycles?

What are the effects of man disrupting or changing the

course of the Earth’s cycles?

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End of Presentation

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End of Presentation

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