Free «The Blue Planet New Budget: Do We Have Enough» Essay Sample

“The Blue Planet's New Water Budget: Do We Have Enough?” article was created and published by Emily C. Pope, Dennis K. Bird, and Minik T. Rosing on March, 5. The article provides materials about the water supply of the planet Earth in the past and nowadays. This is supported with theoretical background. The water supply has decreased over the last 3.8 billion years with the overall changes in the planet Earth structure, and the planet is in danger of suffering from the shortage of its “water budget” in the future.

Water covers over two-third of the surface of the Earth. It is all distributed around the world in the form of the oceans, rivers, lakes, which hold it and allow getting an exact enough calculation of the entire amount of water on the planet. It has to be done in order to keep track of the water resources. The total weight of the water on the planet decreased in the last 3.8 billion years by almost a quarter. It can be proved by researching the minerals, influenced by the water 3.8 billion years ago.

The authors of the article support the idea of “the faint early Sun paradox.” It explains the absence of the ice cover on the surface of the Earth in the ancient times, when the sun radiation had a less impact on the surface of the planet. It turns out that the main cause of preventing the oceans from freezing was the huge amount (about 30%) of the CO₂ in the atmosphere, which created the greenhouse effect and protected the planet.

The article proves that the total loss of the “water budget” over the past 3.8 billion years actually is minimal. Moreover, the research allowed evaluating the quantity of the water compared to the overall mass of the planet. One of the researchers, Emily Pope, believes that water on Earth has historical significance and that the matter of its availability should be further researched.

The conducted research allows a better understanding of the role of the water on the planet. It reveals the relation of the water to the development of the planet, and the dependence of the “water budget” on the atmosphere and surface processes on the Earth. It induces the researchers to conduct further studies in this field, since there are still a lot of questions to be answered. Researching of the issue may become a part of the future scientific prime trends, since the problem of water supply is already arising in some areas of the planet.

All the scientists, involved in studying the climate and atmosphere of the Earth, would find this research very helpful. It reveals a new viewpoint on the historical development of the planet and provides a groundbreaking theory that might be the beginning of the era of research in this field. Relating the level of the CO₂ in the atmosphere to the character of the Earth surface 4 billion years ago and the impact of it on the level of sun radiation is a good way to start the further exploration of this area. Possible results might be helpful in keeping the Earth’s “water budget” safe and sound for the future generations.

I would suggest the authors to pay more attention to the future condition of the water budget on the planet. Comparing and contrasting the results of the past with those obtained nowadays would allow predicting the changes of the Earth climate and atmosphere. On the other hand, it would be helpful in saving the current resources of the water.

The research proved that in the past 4 billion years the climate and atmosphere of the Earth changed greatly, as did the size of the water budget. The continuation of the research would be of great help for the proper management of the water resources in the future.