«ESS501» 8740501 THE EARTH SYSTEM

1. «ESS501»8740501THE EARTH SYSTEM

2. Part 1Introduction tothe Near Earth Space Yurdanur Tulunay , Turkish Space Agency - Board Member and Middle East Technical University , Department of Aerospace Engineering,06800Ankara (e-mail: ytulunay@metu.edu.tr) ESS 501

8. TheAnthropocene defines Earth's most recent geologic time period as being human-influenced, or anthropogenic, based on overwhelming global evidence that atmospheric, geologic,hydrologic, biospheric and other earth system processes are now altered by humans. The word combines the root "anthropo", meaning "human" with the root "-cene", the standard suffix for "epoch" in geologic time. The Anthropocene is distinguished as a new period either after or within the Holocene, the current epoch, which began approximately 10,000 years ago (about 8000 BC) with the end of the last glacial period.

9. A Current Definition!? The term Anthropocene was coined only in 2000, by the Nobel prize-winning scientist Paul Crutzen, who believes the name change is overdue. He said in 2011: “This name change stresses the enormity of humanity’s responsibility as stewards of the Earth.” Crutzen also identified in 2007 what he called the “great acceleration” of human impacts on the planet from the mid-20th century.

10. Annex to Part 1

11. Evidence of the Anthropocene Human activity has: • Pushed extinction rates of animals and plants far above the long-term average. The Earth is on course to see 75% of species become extinct in the next few centuries if current trends continue. • Increased levels of climate-warming CO2 in the atmosphere at the fastest rate for 66m years, with fossil-fuel burning pushing levels from 280 parts per million before the industrial revolution to 400ppm and rising today. • Put so much plastic in our waterways and oceans that microplastic particles are now virtually ubiquitous, and plastics will likely leave identifiable fossil records for future generations to discover.

12. Doubled the nitrogen and phosphorous in our soils in the past century with fertiliser use. This is likely to be the largest impact on the nitrogen cycle in 2.5bn years. • Left a permanent layer of airborne particulates in sediment and glacial ice such as black carbon from fossil fuel burning.

13.  Human activity has left a permanent layer of airborne particulates in sediment and glacial ice. Photograph: Pool/Reuters To define a new geological epoch, a signal must be found that occurs globally and will be incorporated into deposits in the future geological record. For example, the extinction of the dinosaurs 66m years ago at the end of the Cretaceous epoch is defined by a “golden spike” in sediments around the world of the metal iridium, which was dispersed from the meteorite that collided with Earth to end the dinosaur age.

14. For the Anthropocene, the best candidate for such a golden spike are radioactive elements from nuclear bomb tests, which were blown into the stratosphere before settling down to Earth. “The radionuclides are probably the sharpest – they really come on with a bang,” said Zalasiewicz. “But we are spoiled for choice. There are so many signals.”

15. Other spikes being considered as evidence of the onset of the Anthropocene include the tough, unburned carbon spheres emitted by power stations. “The Earth has been smoked, with signals very clearly around the world in the mid-20th century,” said Zalasiewicz.

16. Other candidates include plastic pollution, aluminium and concrete particles, and high levels of nitrogen and phosphate in soils, derived from artificial fertilisers. Although the world is currently seeing only the sixth mass extinction of species in the 700m-year history of complex life on Earth, this is unlikely to provide a useful golden spike as the animals are by definition very rare and rarely dispersed worldwide.

17. In contrast, some species have with human help spread rapidly across the world. The domestic chicken is a serious contender to be a fossil that defines the Anthropocene for future geologists. “Since the mid-20th century, it has become the world’s most common bird. It has been fossilised in thousands of landfill sites and on street corners around the world,” said Zalasiewicz. “It is is also a much bigger bird with a different skeleton than its prewar ancestor.”

18. How the domestic chicken rose to define the Anthropocene? The domestic chicken is a serious contender to be a fossil that defines the Anthropocene for future geologists.

19. The Anthropocene epoch could inaugurate even more marvellous eras of evolutionMartin Rees But Lord Rees added that there is also cause for optimism. “Human societies could navigate these threats, achieve a sustainable future, and inaugurate eras of post-human evolution even more marvellous than what’s led to us. The dawn of the Anthropocene epoch would then mark a one-off transformation from a natural world to one where humans jumpstart the transition to electronic (and potentially immortal) entities, that transcend our limitations and eventually spread their influence far beyond the Earth.”

20. The evidence of humanity’s impact on the planet is overwhelming, but the changes are very recent in geological terms, where an epoch usually spans tens of millions of years. “One criticism of the Anthropocene as geology is that it is very short,” said Zalasiewicz. “Our response is that many of the changes are irreversible.”

21. What is ESS?

22. Earth as a System Apollo 8 astronauts took pictures of the Earth as they traveled to and from the Moon. In their photographs, the Earth looks like a small blue and white marble in a sea of black space. Looking at the planet from that far away makes it easy to see that all its PARTS- the living things, the air, the water, the ice, and the rocks - are connected. Everything on Earth is in the same boat floating through space - a system. https://www.windows2universe.org/earth/ess1.html August 16, 2013 by Roberta Johnson.

23. The Earth as viewed from the Moon during the Apollo 8 mission. Image courtesy of NASA

24. Since the 1980s, NASA scientists have been studying the Earth as they study other planets - mainly from above with satellites. Based on this way of looking at Earth, they developed the idea of Earth SystemScience https://www.windows2universe.org/earth/ess1.html August 16, 2013 by Roberta Johnson.

25. "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“ NASA explained in a 2003 report. https://www.windows2universe.org/earth/ess1.html August 16, 2013 by Roberta Johnson.

26. There are five parts of the Earth System. Each part has its own collection of materials and processes. However, the parts of the Earth system do not operate on their own. They all interact with other parts in many ways. https://www.windows2universe.org/earth/ess1.html August 16, 2013 by Roberta Johnson.

27. The atmosphere extends up from the Earth surface for several hundred kilometers. The lowest part is home to clouds and weather. • The biosphere is all living things, from single-celled bacteria to plants and animals. • The geosphere includes all minerals, rocks, molten rock, sediments, and soils (although there are important living components to soils as well). • The hydrosphere includes the ocean, rivers, lakes, streams, groundwater, water vapor, and even puddles. • The cryosphere is the frozen part of the Earth system and includes snow, glaciers, and sea ice. https://www.windows2universe.org/earth/ess1.html August 16, 2013 by Roberta Johnson.

30. Ecosystem • 1The Biosphereof the Earth, in particular when the interaction between the living and non-living components is emphasized. • 1.1 Near Earth Space:The region of space around a star where conditions are such that Earth are theoretically capable of sustaining life.

31. Lithosphere uppermost part of the mantle. The lithosphere's thickness varies depending on whether you measure the thin new crust on the ocean floor or the old crust of an established land mass.

32. The Earth's lithosphere is broken into continental plates that move over time. Slight movements in the lithosphere can cause earthquakes when the plates bump against each other. "Litho" is from the Greek word lithos, meaning stone. "Sphere" is from the Greek word sphaira, meaning globe or ball. The solid outer crust of any celestial body can also be called the lithosphere. Scientists use robots to examine the lithosphere on Mars.

33. In geology:The rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle. the lithosphere comprises a number of plates’ mass noun‘continental lithosphere has a lower mean density than oceanic lithosphere’

34. Pedosphere • Geology The earth's soil layer. • Origin:1930s. From pedo- + -sphere. Compare earlier lithosphere.

35. Cyrosphere The part of the earth's surface where water exists as ice; the entire region of the natural environment that is below 0°C, especially permanently. Origin:1930s. From cryo- + -sphere, after Polish kryosfera.

36. Hydrosphere Usually the hydrosphere :all the waters on the earth's surface, such as lakes and seas, and sometimes including water over the earth's surface, such as clouds.

40. Future of our planet and destiny of humankind are dependent upon this interdisciplinary pyramid of ES Disiplinary science forms the scientific integrating basis for any discussion of the system as a whole.

42. Physical Elements of the system and human processes forming a simple box System approach: Elements of the E+ system, their linkages, dependenciesand fluxes ESS 501 ODTÜ/METU Ankara http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/earthsystem/index.html