QUESTION 3

The greenhouse effect is the process in which the emission of infrared radiation by the atmosphere warms a planet's surface. The name comes from an incorrect analogy with the warming of air inside a greenhouse compared to the air outside the greenhouse. The greenhouse effect was discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824 and first investigated quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896. (1)

When sunlight reaches the surface of the Earth, some of it is absorbed and warms the surface. Because the Earth's surface is much cooler than the sun, it radiates energy at much longer wavelengths than the sun does, peaking in the infrared at about 10 µm. The atmosphere absorbs these longer wavelengths more effectively than it does the shorter wavelengths from the sun. The absorption of this longwave radiant energy warms the atmosphere. (1) And If global warming continues at its current pace, by 2100 Earth could be up to 8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it is today. (2)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(1) http://www.wikipedia.com/

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(2) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188940,00.html

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QUESTION 2

A watershed is a ridge of high land dividing two areas that are drained by different river systems. (1) And erosion is the carrying away or displacement of solids (sediment, soil, rock and other particles) usually by the agents of currents such as, wind, water, or ice by downward or down-slope movement in response to gravity or by living organisms. Erosion is distinguished from weathering, which is the process of chemical or physical breakdown of the minerals in the rocks, although the two processes may be concurrent. (2) Streams are usually very small while rivers are larger. And lakes can also very in size.

There are about 326 million cubic miles of fresh water enough to fill the United States with a lake 90 miles deep. 70 percent of fresh water is locked in ice caps though. While less than 1 percent of the world’s freshwater is readily accessible. Though the Earth is covered in most parts with water, 72 percent of surface area, but 97 percent of the water is salty and not suited for drinking. (3) The Water quality in both ground Water and surface systems is impacted by land use decisions because of how much waste people are dumping into the rivers lakes and streams. And because of how much waste people are dumping in landfills or because of fertilizers being used to much.

FINAL EXAM

QUESTION 1

The geosphere consists of the core, mantle and crust of the Earth.
The atmosphere contains all of the Earth’s air and is divided into troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and ionosphere. (1)
The hydrosphere consists of water in all forms (3) extending from the depths of the sea to the upper reaches of the troposphere where water is found. Ninety-seven percent of the hydrosphere is found in salty oceans, and the remainder is found as vapor or droplets in the atmosphere and as liquid in ground water, lakes, rivers, glaciers and snowfields.
The biosphere is the collection of all Earth’s life forms, distributed in major life zones known as biomes: tundra, boreal forest, temperate deciduous forest, temperate grassland, desert, savannah, tropical rainforest, chaparral, freshwater, and marine. (1) It also includes air, land, surface rocks, and water, within which life occurs. (2)








Although the four systems have their unique identities, there is substantial interaction between them. Environmental scientists study the effects of events in one sphere on the other spheres. For example, a volcanic eruption in the geosphere may cause profound direct and indirect effects on the hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. (1)
I’ll also be able to use this information in the future when I go to college. Because I want to be an anistist, and to be that you need a degree in biological science or a nursing degree before you can go on further in college.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(1) http://www.csun.edu/science/books/sourcebook/chapters/8-organizing/files/earth-systems-interactions.html

copyright 2007 Norman Herr, Ph.D.-Professor of science education-California State University, Northridge



(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere


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(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrosphere


no copyright Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc