pro_junior Report This Comment Date: January 29, 2009 03:03AM
Credit:
ADAM NIEMAN / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
CREDIT MUST BE GIVEN IN FULL
Caption
Global water and air volume. Conceptual computer artwork of the total volume of
water on Earth (left) and of air in the Earth's atmosphere (right) shown as
spheres (blue and pink). The spheres show how finite water and air supplies are.
The water sphere measures 1390 kilometres across and has a volume of 1.4 billion
cubic kilometres. This includes all the water in the oceans, seas, ice caps,
lakes and rivers as well as ground water, and that in the atmosphere. The air
sphere measures 1999 kilometres across and weighs 5140 trillion tonnes. As the
atmosphere extends from Earth it becomes less dense. Half of the air lies within
the first 5 kilometres of the atmosphere.
Anonymous Critic Report This Comment Date: January 29, 2009 07:59PM
Someone needs to double check the math. It seems like the graphic represents
only the world's fresh water. There's no way that little marble of H2O
represents all the water in all the oceans, lakes, ice caps and underground
aquifers on the planet.