water and carbon cycles

• System thinking is a way to simplify and contextualize a complex world
• System thinking helps to understand how physical landscapes work and interact with each other, as well as the impact of human activity on them
• A system is a series of interacting components linked by flows/transfers of energy and material/matter
• All systems have boundaries, for example, the global hydrological system's boundary is the upper atmosphere
• There are open systems with external inputs and outputs of energy and matter exchange at their boundaries, and closed systems that only have energy as their input and output, with matter contained within the system boundary
• Energy in global systems comes from the sun, which is irradiated back from Earth to space
• Global systems usually consist of smaller subsystems, like the drainage basin of a river
• Cascading systems involve the transfer of energy and material from one subsystem to another, where the output of one subsystem becomes the input for another subsystem; for example, alluvium from a river cascades into the coastal system
• System thinking is a way to simplify and contextualize a complex world
• Equilibrium, thresholds, and feedback loops are key A-level concepts in geography that need to be utilized
• System thinking helps to understand how physical landscapes work and interact with each other, as well as the impact of human activity on them
• A system is a series of interacting components linked by flows/transfers of energy and material/matter
• All systems have boundaries, for example, the global hydrological system's boundary is the upper atmosphere
• Open systems have external inputs and outputs of energy and matter exchange at their boundaries
• Closed systems only have energy as their input and output, with matter contained within the system boundary
• Energy in global systems comes from the sun, which is irradiated back from Earth to space
• Global systems usually consist of smaller subsystems, like the drainage basin of a river
• Cascading systems involve the transfer of energy and material from one subsystem to another
• In cascading systems, the output of one subsystem becomes the input for another subsystem, for example, alluvium from a river cascades into the coastal system
• System thinking is a way to simplify and contextualize a complex world, a key A-level concept along with equilibrium, thresholds, and feedback loops
• System thinking helps to understand how physical landscapes work and interact with each other, as well as the impact of human activity on them
• A system is a series of interacting components linked by flows/transfers of energy and material/matter, with boundaries that define the system's limits
• All systems have boundaries; for example, the global hydrological system's boundary is the upper atmosphere
• There are open and closed systems:

  • Open systems have external inputs and outputs of energy and matter exchange at their boundaries
  • Closed systems only have energy as their input and output, with matter contained within the system boundary
• Energy in global systems comes from the sun, which is irradiated back from Earth to space
• Global systems consist of smaller subsystems, like the drainage basin of a river
• Cascading systems involve the transfer of energy and material from one subsystem to another, where the output of one subsystem becomes the input for another subsystem; for example, alluvium from a river cascades into the coastal system
• Drainage basin


  The area of land that drains into a particular river or body of water, including all of the streams, creeks, and tributaries that flow into the main river.
• Subsystems

  Smaller, more localized systems that are part of a larger global system. An example is the drainage basin of a river.
• Global systems


  Large, complex systems that encompass the entire planet, made up of many smaller subsystems that interact with each other in complex ways.