Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
1
The Ocean in the Earth System:
Evolution and Regulation
1.1. The Earth system and its components
It is very common today for our planet to be called an “Earth
system”. The scientific meaning is both a necessary tool of
communication and an area of potential confusion. Therefore, let us
first endeavor to probe this concept and define how the Earth is a
“system” of which the ocean is one of the “components”.
A system is classically defined as a group of elements (or
components), each of them interacting with the others through certain
principles or rules. This definition seems trivial and merits some
comments and clarifications.
1.1.1.
A system is a set of objects whose limit is arbitrary, but
pertinent
First, the word “set” implies a grouping within a boundary, defined
in a subjective and arbitrary manner by the observer. In what
circumstances is the arbitrary choice of a grouping relevant? For the
scientific observer, the grouping is most often relevant because it
