Earth's Life Support Systems (ELSS) Flashcards
Why is water key to understanding the evolution of life on earth?
As it provides a medium for organic molecules to mix and form more complex structures.
What is the ubiquity of water on Earth due to?
The distance of Earth from the sun. We are in the ‘Goldilocks’ zone where the temperature is just right for water to exist in liquid form.
What helps to create benign thermal conditions?
Water
How do oceans moderate the Earth’s heat?
by absorbing and releasing heat slowly.
How do clouds moderate the Earth’s heat?
They reflect a fifth of incoming radiation, lowering surface temperatures.
How does water vapour moderate the Earth’s heat?
Water vapour absorbs long wave radiation from the Earth, helping to maintain an average global temperature almost 15 degrees higher than it would be otherwise.
Water makes up how much of all living organisms?
65-95%
What is water crucial to in living organisms?
metabolic functions, growth, and reproduction
What do plants need water for?
photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration, rigidity, and to transport nutrients from the soil
What is water needed for in animals and people?
Water is the medium for all chemical reactions in the body, including circulation of oxygen and nutrients
Name some reasons why water is an essential resource for economic activity:
generates electricity, irrigate crops, drinking water, used in a huge range of industries, recreational facilities
What are the 5 carbon stores?
carbonate rocks, sea floor sediments, ocean water, atmosphere and biosphere
How is carbon used as an economic resource?
Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas power the global economy. Oil is used in the manufacture of products ranging from plastics to paints.
System:
Groups of objects and the relationship that binds them together
On a global scale, the carbon and water cycle are….
Closed systems
In the global water and carbon cycle, what is the only energy the crosses the boundaries?
The sun’s energy
On a smaller scale, the water and carbon cycle are considered….
Open systems as materials as well as the sun’s energy cross the boundaries.
Draw global carbon cycle:
See Word Document
Draw global water cycle:
See Word Document
Percentage of global water that is in oceans:
97%
Percentage of global water that is in polar ice and glaciers:
2%
Name the 8 global stores of water:
oceans, polar ice + glaciers, groundwater, lakes, soils, atmosphere, rivers, biosphere
How can moisture leave the atmosphere store?
precipitation and condensation
What are inputs of water into the water cycle?
water vapour evaporated from oceans, lakes and rivers. Vapour transpired through the leaves of plants. (EVAPOTRANSPIRATION)
How do ice sheets and glaciers release water?
Ablation
What is run-off?
When precipitation and meltwater drain from the land’s surface into rivers.
What is infiltration?
When water infiltrates into soil and flows through it before reaching rivers.