Where Did O2 Come From?

The most important source of O2 on Earth is

Life and Photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis converts CO2 to O2, and

incorporates carbon into amino acids, proteins,
and other components of living organisms.
O2 will be depleted from the atmosphere very
rapidly without a source.
O2 is a very reactive chemical that likes to be
combined with other elements through
oxidation. For examples, CO2, H2O, FeO (rust)
Thats how we make fire!
O2 Absorbs UV, which also transform some of
the O2 into O3, which absorbs even more UV
O2 not only supports life, it also protect life!

UV light can break the water molecules to release

oxygen, but the contribution is small.

The Role of the Magnetic Field of

Earth
Another important characteristics of the Earth is its magnetic fields, which shield
us from the bombardment of the high-energy charged particles, mostly from the
Sun.
Without magnetic field, the high energy particles of solar wind can strip much
of the Earths atmosphere by breaking the bounds between the atoms in the air
molecules
N2 N + N
O2 O + O
H2O H + H + O
The lighter gases then have higher probability of acquiring velocity higher
than escape velocity and escape from Earth!

Water On Earth in the Past

Was it always like this on Earth?
Yes. Water was plentiful throughout most of Earths history,
for about three billion years.
No! Geological evidences suggest that Earth used to be
covered by ice about 600-700 million years ago
Snowball Phase.
How did Earth recover from the snowball phase?
Once the water was frozen, CO2 can no longer be removed
from the atmosphere by dissolving in water interruption of
the CO2 cycle.
Increased CO2 level in the atmosphere leads to stronger
greenhouse effect, which warms the atmosphere.
Higher temperature melt the ice restoration of the CO2
cycle.

Comparative Planetology
Mars and Venus are very similar to
Earth in their size and location to the
solar system. However, their surface
environments are drastically different
from that of the Earth today. By
understanding how Mars and Venus
end up with their current state, we
may be able to better understand our
Earth

Mars

Mars image from

Hubble Space Telescope

Martian Season
The tilt of Mars rotation axis with respect
to its ecliptic plane is 25.19
The eccentricity of Mars orbit around the
Sun is 0.093
The seasons on Mars are affected by both
its orbital distance and its axis tilt.
Mars is closer to the Sun during the southern
hemisphere summer, and farther away from
the Sun during its winter
Mars therefore has more extreme seasons in its
southern hemispherethat is, shorter, hotter
summers and longer, colder wintersthan in
its northern hemisphere.

Martian Weather
Even though Mars only has a
very thin atmosphere, it still
has a weather system
Martian weather are due to its
extreme seasonal changes.
Polar temperatures at the winter
pole drop so low (about 130C)
that carbon dioxide condenses
into dry ice at the polar cap.
frozen carbon dioxide at the
summer pole sublimates into
carbon dioxide gas.
The atmospheric pressure
therefore increases at the
summer pole and decreases at
the winter pole, driving strong
pole-to-pole winds.
Storms on Mars can engulf the
entire planet.

Geology of Mars
Martian surface is
similar to Earths
desert and volcanic
plane
High elevation and
numerous large
impact craters in the
southern
hemisphere
Lower elevation and
few impact craters in
the northern
hemisphere
Volcanism is the most
likely mechanism
responsible for
changing the surface
features of Mars.

Dry Ice (frozen CO2) in the north

and south poles

Water on Mars in the Past?

Many geological features of Mars suggest that it had a lot of water about 3 billion years
ago. It may even have a pleasant, hospitable environment.

Dried up riverbeds

Gullies?
Images from Mars Rover Spirit at

Lake bottom
a suspected ancient lake site
showed rock structures consistent
with those formed from sediments
in standing water
Riverbed?

Gullies

Lake Bottom?

Ancient Martian Ocean?

Mars may once have an ocean. The smoother
surface in the low lying areas in the northern
hemisphere (blue areas in the image on the
right) may once hold an ocean

Water on Mars Today?

The gullies form when snow

accumulates on the crater

walls in winter and melts
away in spring. Because the
gullies are relatively small
(note the scale bar in Figure
7.26), they should be
gradually covered over by
blowing sand during
Martian dust storms. Thus,
gullies that are still clearly
visible must be no more
than a few million years
old. Geologically speaking,
this time is short enough to
make it quite likely that

Why doesnt Mars have water

today?

If Mars used to hold a large amount of water, then why is Mars so different
today? What caused it to lose its water?

We dont know exactly what happened, but one likely explanation was because of the
relatively small size of Mars:

The smaller size of Mars means

that it cools off faster. Once it
cools, volcanic activities stop,
halting the release of gases into the
atmosphere.
The cool interior temperature may
means that Mars does not have a
fluid metallic core to generate
magnetic fields anymore.
Without a magnetosphere, the
atmosphere is exposed to the
bombardment of high energy
charged particles of solar wind,
which break the air molecules,
making them easier to escape.

As Mars cools, the remaining CO2 gases are frozen in the

north and south pole, forming the ice cap.
The remaining oxygen are trapped on surface rock,
making it look red

Venus
We cannot see
the rocky
surface of
Venus due
to its thick
atmosphere.
..

NASA Image of Venus

Geology of Venus

Venus surface is similar to Earth and Mars few impact craters,

volcanoes, and evidence of tectonics activities
But no plate tectonics
The volcanoes of Venus is most likely still active today
few impact craters,
sulfuric acid cloud (the volcanoes are still outgasing)
However, there is no sign of erosion
No liquid water?
No wind, due to its slow rotation (243 Earth days per rotation).

Venus dos not have a magnetic field!

This is quite surprising given that most of
the ingredients required for the dynamo are
all present

Click on the image to see

image obtained by Venera
14 spacecraft

Why doesnt Venus have water?

Given the similarities between Earth and Venus, why is the
atmosphere of Venus so different from Earths?
Venus is too hot!

The proximity to the Sun keep the temperature on Venus

high, even without greenhouse effect. Any water on
Venus (from out-gassing of water trapped inside the
planet) are vaporized into gaseous phases (water vapor).

Water vapor and CO2 are both greenhouse gas, causing

the atmosphere to warm up more runaway greenhouse
effect T = 740 K

At 740 K, the molecules of gases has much higher

average kinetic energy (recall the definition of
temperature) higher average velocity.

If the velocity of the gas molecules exceed the escape

velocity, then they can escape into space

Light gases (H, H2O, O2, N2) escape, heavy gases (CO2)
stay. Why?

Without liquid water, CO2 doesnt have a place to go,

except to stay in the atmospherein comparison, most of
the CO2 on Earth are locked in rock or liquid water...

Runaway Greenhouse Effect

If we were to move the Earth closer to the Sun, like where Venus is now, then we
would suffer the runaway greenhouse effect as well, lose all the water, and become hot
like Venus.

What makes a planet

habitable?
Two important factors
determine whether a
planet is habitable
Size:
Need substantial
mass to maintain an
atmosphere
Small planets cool
off faster than large
ones. Without the
volcanic outgasing
and a hot, fluid
metallic core to
generate magnetic
field, atmospheric
gas are easily
depleted.
Distance to the Sun
the distance to the Sun
determine the energy
input to the planet:
Too close too hot
water evaporates.

Internal Structure
Surface Features
Atmosphere
What makes the
Earth hospitable to
life?
Global Warming?

Global Warming, A Quick

Poll
Is global warming real?
a) Yes
b) No
How much has the average
temperature of the Earth
risen in the last 100 years?
c) ~ 0.5C
d) ~ 1.0C
e) ~ 5.0C
f) ~ 10.0C
This is the highest temperature
ever recorded in Earths
history.
g) Yes.
h) No.

Who is to blame?
a) Human activities
b) Nature causes
c) ET
d) NoCanTell!
What is to blame?
e) Ozone
f) CO2
g) H2O
h) O2

Global Warming, A Quick

Poll
Is global warming real?
a) Yes
b) No
How much has the average
temperature of the Earth
risen in the last 100 years?
c) ~ 0.5C
d) ~ 1.0C
e) ~ 5.0C
f) ~ 10.0C
As far as we know, this is the
highest temperature ever
recorded in Earths history.
g) Yes.
h) No.

Who is to blame?
a) Human activities
b) Nature causes
c) ET
d) NoCanTell!
What is to blame?
e) Ozone
f) CO2
g) H2O
h) O2
i) NoCanTell. It is real
complicated!

Global Warming
There is a gradual increase in
the average temperature of the
Earths atmosphere in the last
100 yearsIt has risen about
1C since 1900
Are human activities
causing global warming?
What other (non-human)
factors can cause global
warming?
How does global warming
affect our life?
Just watch the movies

Earths Temperature Variation in the

past 1,100 years

Reconstructions of (Northern Hemisphere average or global average) surface temperature variations from six
research teams (in different color shades) along with the instrumental record of global average surface
temperature (in black). Each curve illustrates a somewhat different history of temperature changes, with a
range of uncertainties that tend to increase backward in time (as indicated by the shading). Reference: NRC,
2006. (Figure reprinted with permission from Surface Temperature Reconstructions (2006) by the National
Academy of Sciences, Courtesy of the National Academies Press22 18, Washington, D.C.).
Reproduced from EPA Climate Change Website.

The Long-Term Stability of Earths

Climate400,000 years
The atmospheric
concentration of CO2
measured from
Antarctic ice core
data implies that
Earths climate has
being pretty stable
over the past 400,000
years
It also shows a rapid
increase of about
30% in the past few
centuries
270 ppm (parts per
million) to 370 ppm

Fluctuations in temperature (blue) and in the atmospheric

concentration of carbon dioxide (red) over the past 400,000 years as
inferred from Antarctic ice-core records. The vertical red bar is the
increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over the past two
centuries and before 2006. From A. V. Fedorov et al. Science
312, 1485 (2006)17. 18.
Reproduced from EPA Climate Change Website.

How do we measure atmospheric CO2

concentration in the past?
Precise measurements of atmospheric CO2
concentration is available only in the last few
decades
Information about atmospheric CO2

concentration and temperatures in the past can

be inferred by several different methods, such
as
Tree-ring
Deep ocean sediment
Ice core records
Coral

Paleoclimatology is the study of climate prior to the widespread availability of
Link
to NOAA
Paleoclimatology
Website
records
of temperature,
precipitation
and other instrumental
data.

Antarctic Ice
Core
Located high in mountains

and in polar ice caps, ice has

accumulated from snowfall
over many millenia.
Scientists drill through the
deep ice to collect ice cores.
These cores contain dust, air
bubbles, or isotopes of
oxygen, that can be used to
interpret the past climate of
that area.

From NOAA Paleoclimatology

Website.

This figures shows estimates of the changes

in carbon dioxide concentrations during the
Phanerozoic. Three estimates are based on
geochemical modeling: GEOCARB III (Berner
and Kothavala 2001), COPSE (Bergmann et al.
2004) and Rothman (2001). These are
compared to the carbon dioxide
measurement database of Royer et al. (2004)
and a 30 Myr filtered average of those data.
Error envelopes are shown when they were
available. The right hand scale shows the
ratio of these measurements to the estimated
average for the last several million years (the
Quaternary). Customary labels for the periods
of geologic time appear at the bottom.
Direct determination of past carbon dioxide
levels relies primarily on the interpretation of
carbon isotopic ratios in fossilized soils (
paleosols) or the shells of phytoplankton and
through interpretation of stomatal density in
fossil plants. Each of these is subject to
substantial systematic uncertainty.
Estimates of carbon dioxide changes through
geochemical modeling instead rely on
quantifying the geological sources and sinks
for carbon dioxide over long time scales
particularly: volcanic inputs, erosion and
carbonate deposition. As such, these models
are largely independent of direct
measurements of carbon dioxide.
Both measurements and models show
considerable uncertainty and variation;
however, all point to carbon dioxide levels in
the past that have been significantly higher
than they are at present.

CO2 over
500
million
years

From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:P
hanerozoic_Carbon_Dioxide.png