This is a wonderful graphic simply because it places the Earth's gross water content into the correct perspective when we look at other planets. It also informs us of one major inference. Any water rich comet that was sized toward perhaps a third of the Earth.s diameter could easily deliver all the waqter and organic volitiles needed to produce our present situation. The conjecture was always plausible but this illustrates it completely.
We also are provided with the raw numbers and that is useful to have at hand as well.
The take home is that our Earth is bathed with scant water. Yet that is the likely production of just one comet hitting us early on. This also suggests two other conjectures:
Such impacts are rare enough to limit the number of living planets in the Universe. However, terraforming Venus is a one step process that consists of correctly disturbing a Comet far out onto the correct orbit. Because i have good reason to think that Venus was artificially triggered by the same folks who saw our Ice Age off with the Pleistocene Nonconformity, there is good reason to suspect that such a comet has already been disturbed and is on its way.
If we can imagine doing this, it is my experience that it is already done. It may take thousands of years.
.
How much water is on Earth?
If the big bubble burst:
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/gallery/global-water-volume.html
The drawings below show various blue spheres representing relative
amounts of Earth's water in comparison to the size of the Earth. Are you
surprised that these water spheres look so small? They are only small
in relation to the size of the Earth. These images attempt to show three
dimensions, so each sphere represents "volume." Overall, it shows that
in comparison to the volume of the globe the amount of water on the
planet is very small - and the oceans are only a "thin film" of water on
the surface.
Spheres representing all of Earth's water, Earth's liquid fresh water, and water in lakes and rivers
The largest sphere represents all of Earth's water, and its diameter
is about 860 miles (the distance from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Topeka,
Kansas). It would have a volume of about 332,500,000 cubic miles (mi3) (1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers (km3)).
The sphere includes all the water in the oceans, ice caps, lakes, and
rivers, as well as groundwater, atmospheric water, and even the water in
you, your dog, and your tomato plant.
Liquid fresh water
How much of the total water is fresh water, which people and many
other life forms need to survive? The blue sphere over Kentucky
represents the world's liquid fresh water (groundwater, lakes, swamp
water, and rivers). The volume comes to about 2,551,100 mi3 (10,633,450 km3),
of which 99 percent is groundwater, much of which is not accessible to
humans. The diameter of this sphere is about 169.5 miles (272.8
kilometers).
Water in lakes and rivers
Do you notice that "tiny" bubble over Atlanta, Georgia? That one
represents fresh water in all the lakes and rivers on the planet, and
most of the water people and life of earth need every day comes from
these surface-water sources. The volume of this sphere is about 22,339
mi3 (93,113 km3). The diameter of this sphere is
about 34.9 miles (56.2 kilometers). Yes, Lake Michigan looks way bigger
than this sphere, but you have to try to imagine a bubble almost 35
miles high—whereas the average depth of Lake Michigan is less than 300
feet (91 meters).
The data used on this page comes from Igor Shiklomanov's estimate of global water distribution, shown in a table below.
Credit: Howard Perlman, USGS; globe illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (©); Adam Nieman.
Data source: Igor Shiklomanov's chapter "World fresh water resources" in Peter H. Gleick (editor), 1993, Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources (Oxford University Press, New York).
Sphere representing all of Earth's water
If you just want an image of all water on, in, and above the Earth, here it is.
| Water source | Water volume, in cubic miles | Water volume, in cubic kilometers | Percent of freshwater | Percent of total water |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oceans, Seas, & Bays | 321,000,000 | 1,338,000,000 | -- | 96.54 |
| Ice caps, Glaciers, & Permanent Snow | 5,773,000 | 24,060,000 | 68.6 | 1.74 |
| Groundwater | 5,614,000 | 23,400,000 | -- | 1.69 |
| Fresh | 2,526,000 | 10,530,000 | 30.1 | 0.76 |
| Saline | 3,088,000 | 12,870,000 | -- | 0.93 |
| Soil Moisture | 3,959 | 16,500 | 0.05 | 0.001 |
| Ground Ice & Permafrost | 71,970 | 300,000 | 0.86 | 0.022 |
| Lakes | 42,320 | 176,400 | -- | 0.013 |
| Fresh | 21,830 | 91,000 | 0.26 | 0.007 |
| Saline | 20,490 | 85,400 | -- | 0.007 |
| Atmosphere | 3,095 | 12,900 | 0.04 | 0.001 |
| Swamp Water | 2,752 | 11,470 | 0.03 | 0.0008 |
| Rivers | 509 | 2,120 | 0.006 | 0.0002 |
| Biological Water | 269 | 1,120 | 0.003 | 0.0001 |
| Source: Igor Shiklomanov's chapter "World fresh water resources" in Peter H. Gleick (editor), 1993, Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources (Oxford University Press, New York). | ||||
No comments:
Post a Comment