Category:Biosphere

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The biosphere that sustains us, a living planet ...

Biosphere: The global sum of all ecosystems. It can be termed the zone of life on Earth, a closed system (apart from solar and cosmic radiation and heat from the interior of the Earth), and largely self-regulating. By the most general biophysiological definition, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere

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The composition of the biosphere

• https://www.pnas.org/content/115/25/6506 (2018)

• https://www.pnas.org/content/115/25/6506/tab-figures-data

• https://www.pnas.org/content/115/25/6328

• https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/plants-outweigh-all-other-life-earth

• https://apnews.com/72a5dd80a5004804ba1c458b6a438ec3

• https://twitter.com/czzpr/status/1022045948715917313

Plants rule the carbon weight of the world

There are almost 8 billion people alive today. How do we weigh up in comparison to other living things?

The carbon weight of all life on Earth is estimated at 550 gigatonnes, according to a 2018 study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Human beings make up only around 0.01 per cent of this biomass.

• https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-05/chart-of-the-day-plants-rule-carbon-weight-of-life-on-earth/10069684

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TinyBlueGreen

Oceans Biosphere Data via NASA

Ocean Data

• https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30289

• https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3938

• https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/search.cgi?value=seawifs&expanded=filters

• https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30801

Global Biosphere, Yearly Cycle

• https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a030000/a030500/a030595/biosphere_cryo_720p.mp4

• https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30595

• https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11861

SeaWIFS full mission composite -- Ocean chlorophyll concentration averaged over the full mission – 4 Sep 1997 to 30 Nov 2010

The SeaWiFS instrument aboard the SeaStar satellite has been collecting ocean data since 1997. By monitoring the color of reflected light via satellite, scientists can determine how successfully plant life is photosynthesizing. A measurement of photosynthesis is essentially a measurement of successful growth, and growth means successful use of ambient carbon. This animation represents nearly a decade's worth of data taken by the SeaWiFS instrument, showing the abundance of life in the sea and along the Western seaboard of the United States. Dark blue represents warmer areas where there is little life due to lack of nutrients, and greens and reds represent cooler nutrient-rich areas. The nutrient-rich areas include coastal regions where cold water rises from the sea floor bringing nutrients along and areas at the mouths of rivers where the rivers have brought nutrients into the ocean from the land. The nutrient-rich waters contribute to some of the oxygen-poor pockets of the seas called dead zones.

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Under the Earth's Surface

Life on Earth's lands and oceans and as science is beginning to discover, there is the "dark biosphere"...

• https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-lift-lid-on-massive-biosphere-of-life-hidden-under-earth-s-surface/amp

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Exploring Biodiversity

Earth is in our hands

Humanity needs to act to nurture, preserve & protect life on Earth