Reading & Reflection: The Emergence and Evolution of Earth System Science

The article The Emergence and Evolution of Earth System Science explains how Earth System Science (ESS) developed from the understanding that Earth functions as a connected whole rather than a collection of separate systems (Steffen et al., 2020). Early scientific people, including Vernadsky and the creators of the Gaia hypothesis for example, helped encourage scientists to think about how living organisms interact with Earth’s physical environment. Improvements in satellite technology, long-term research, and computing power during the late twentieth century made it possible to study Earth on a global scale. International research collaboration efforts helped scientists from different disciplines work together more effectively. As a result, ESS became an organized field focused on understanding global environmental change.

Earth System Science can be described as the study of how Earth’s natural systems and human activities interact over time through exchanges of energy and matter (Steffen et al., 2020). NASA played a major role in the growth of ESS by supporting satellite missions and promoting Earth System Science as a formal discipline during the 1980s. Scientists use conceptual models, numerical models, and Earth System Models to represent interactions among the atmosphere, oceans, land, ice, and living organisms. These models help researchers better understand how Earth behaved in the past and how it may change in the future. One important concept that developed from ESS is the Anthropocene, which emphasizes the growing influence humans have on Earth’s systems (Steffen et al., 2020).

Earth System Science is important because it allows scientists to study environmental change in a more complete and realistic way. Rather than focusing on individual processes, ESS helps reveal how changes in one system can affect many others. In the future, ESS will likely place more focus on understanding human behavior and decisions made by our actions. This approach could help guide policies related to climate change and sustainability. I found it especially interesting that ideas once seen as controversial, such as the Gaia hypothesis, helped shape the modern scientific understanding of Earth as an interconnected system (Steffen et al., 2020).

Reference:

Steffen, W., Richardson, K., Rockström, J., Schellnhuber, H.-J., Dube, O. P., Dutreuil, S., Lenton, T. M., & Lubchenco, J. (2020). The Emergence and Evolution of Earth System Science. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 1, 54–63.