The Earth from the Air: Yann Arthus-Bertrand

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As organisms die and decompose, they release carbon into the ocean, soil, or atmosphere. Plants and other autotrophs use this carbon for photosynthesis, starting the carbon cycle again.

Plants and animals each produce the gases that the other needs to live. Plants need carbon dioxide—people and other animals exhale carbon dioxide as a waste product. People and other animals need oxygen—plants produce oxygen during an important process called photosynthesis, which turns the sun’s energy into nutrients. The relative concentration of gases remains constant until about 10,000m (33,000ft). [17] Stratification Earth's atmosphere. Lower four layers of the atmosphere in three dimensions as seen diagonally from above the exobase. Layers drawn to scale, objects within the layers are not to scale. Aurorae shown here at the bottom of the thermosphere can actually form at any altitude in this atmospheric layer. The exosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere (though it is so tenuous that some scientists consider it to be part of interplanetary space rather than part of the atmosphere). It extends from the thermopause (also known as the "exobase") at the top of the thermosphere to a poorly defined boundary with the solar wind and interplanetary medium. The altitude of the exobase varies from about 500 kilometres (310mi; 1,600,000ft) to about 1,000 kilometres (620mi) in times of higher incoming solar radiation. [22] In general, air pressure and density decrease with altitude in the atmosphere. However, the temperature has a more complicated profile with altitude, and may remain relatively constant or even increase with altitude in some regions (see the temperature section, below). Because the general pattern of the temperature/altitude profile, or lapse rate, is constant and measurable by means of instrumented balloon soundings, the temperature behavior provides a useful metric to distinguish atmospheric layers. In this way, Earth's atmosphere can be divided (called atmospheric stratification) into five main layers: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere. [18] The altitudes of the five layers are as follows: Since I also have the original "The Earth From The Air", which has the same author and features many of the same photos, I will also be comparing these two books with each other.

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At the same time that it revolves around the sun, Earth rotates on its own axis. Rotation is when an object, such as a planet, turns around an invisible line running down its center. Earth’s axis is vertical, running from the North Pole to the South Pole. Earth makes one complete rotation about every 24 hours. Earth rotates unevenly, spinning faster at the Equator than at the poles. At the Equator, Earth rotates at about 1,670 kilometers per hour (1,040 miles per hour), while at 45° north, for example, (the approximate latitude of Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States) Earth rotates at 1,180 kilometers per hour (733 miles per hour). The average atmospheric pressure at sea level is defined by the International Standard Atmosphere as 101325 pascals (760.00 Torr; 14.6959 psi; 760.00 mmHg). This is sometimes referred to as a unit of standard atmospheres (atm). Total atmospheric mass is 5.1480×10 18 kg (1.135×10 19 lb), [40] about 2.5% less than would be inferred from the average sea level pressure and Earth's area of 51007.2 megahectares, this portion being displaced by Earth's mountainous terrain. Atmospheric pressure is the total weight of the air above unit area at the point where the pressure is measured. Thus air pressure varies with location and weather.

All living or once-living materials contain carbon. These materials are organic. Plants and other autotrophs depend on carbon dioxide to create nutrients in a process called photosynthesis. These nutrients contain carbon. Animals and other organisms that consume autotrophs obtain carbon. Fossil fuels, the remains of ancient plants and animals, contain very high amounts of carbon.

Photography Tours Video - A welcome to Light and Land!

The results may be colourful - with natural patterns of both landscapes and seascapes providing some of the most awe-inspiring shots - but the exhibition also has a serious message. Even above the Kármán line, significant atmospheric effects such as auroras still occur. Meteors begin to glow in this region, though the larger ones may not burn up until they penetrate more deeply. The various layers of Earth's ionosphere, important to HF radio propagation, begin below 100km and extend beyond 500km. By comparison, the International Space Station and Space Shuttle typically orbit at 350–400km, within the F-layer of the ionosphere where they encounter enough atmospheric drag to require reboosts every few months, otherwise, orbital decay will occur resulting in a return to Earth. Depending on solar activity, satellites can experience noticeable atmospheric drag at altitudes as high as 700–800km. Timothy W. Lyons, Christopher T. Reinhard & Noah J. Planavsky (2014). "Atmospheric oxygenation three billion years ago". Nature. 506 (7488): 307–15. Bibcode: 2014Natur.506..307L. doi: 10.1038/nature13068. PMID 24553238. S2CID 4443958. The first major era of the Phanerozoic is called the Paleozoic, and the Cambrian is the first period of the Paleozoic era. “The Cambrian Explosion of Life” was the rapid appearance of almost all forms of life. Paleontologists and geologists have studied fossils of archaea, bacteria, algae, fungi, plants, and animals that lived during the Cambrian period. The Cambrian was followed by the Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian periods. The hydrosphere helps regulate Earth’s temperature and climate. The ocean absorbs heat from the sun and interacts with the atmosphere to move it around Earth in air currents.