Earth science
Earth science (also known as geoscience or the geosciences), is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth science. The major historic disciplines use physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology to build a quantitative understanding of the principal areas or spheres of the Earth system:
However, given the numerous interactions between the spheres many modern fields take an interdisclipinary approach and thus do not sit comfortably in this scheme:
Furthermore, other modern disciplines known collectively as Earth system science approach the entire Earth as a system in its own right, which evolves as a result of positive and negative feedbacks between constituent systems:
- Meteorology describes, explains and predicts the weather based on the interaction of principally the ocean and atmosphere.
- Climatology describes and explains the climate in terms of the interaction of the litho-, hydro-, atmo-, cryo-, and bio- spheres.
- Gaia theories explain the behaviour of the Earth system in terms of the influence of the biosphere.
Like all other scientists, earth scientists apply the scientific method: formulate hypotheses after observation of and gathering data about natural phenomena and then test those hypotheses. In earth science, data usually plays a critical role in testing and formulating hypotheses. The systems approach, enabled by the combined use of computer models as hypotheses tested by global satellite and ship-board data, is increasingly giving scientists the ability to explain the past and possible future behaviour of the Earth system.
Partial list of the major Earth Science topics
Geology
Oceanography
Geography
Limnology
Glaciology
Atmospheric Science
Systems/multidiscplinary
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