Learn Earth Science
What do you want to learn today?
Atmosphere
From the troposphere to the exosphere, study the atmosphere. Topics include the ozone layer, magnetosphere, and weather.
Geology
Geology is the study and science of Earth’s land forms. This includes how they were created, have changed over time, and how they will evolve.
Biology
Biology works with time, disease, ecosystems, and why we are here today. It also works on different scales like individual atoms to the entire biosphere.
Career
If you are interested in a career in environmental science, there are lots of opportunities available. Find out how diverse the field is.
Space
Space is beyond Earth’s atmosphere. It applies the concepts from physics, biology, and geology to explain our planet’s origin and evolution.
Water Science
Water is all around us. From oceans to freshwater lakes, this field studies everything from deep ocean water life to the flow of currents.
Atmosphere
97% of scientists agree humans are causing global climate change. For example, evidence includes rising sea levels, warming oceans and shrinking ice sheets.
There is over 5500 tons of space junk above Earth’s surface. They mostly consist of small and medium debris within 700 – 36,000 km range…
Main highlights of the stratosphere are: (1) The ozone layer absorbs harmful UV light (2) This causes temperature to rise (3) It contains 10% of…
Lightning is hotter than the sun, it strikes 8.6 million times a day and more lightning facts. Because when there’s thunder, there’s sure to be…
In flesh and blood, 7.6 billion humans live on Earth. The emergence of humans has left a profound impact. The demand for resources is the…
The magnetic field gives us a layer out in space called the magnetosphere. Without it, Earth would be exposed to solar and cosmic radiation.
Biology
The earliest anatomically modern human fossil found was dated at about 200-300,000 years old in Morocco, Africa. They had modern faces and used stone tools.
All life contains types of carbon. When an organism dies, carbon dating examines the ratio between carbon-14 (C14) and carbon-12 (C12) to estimate age.
The Earth breathes. We gauge Earth net primary productivity by how much carbon dioxide plants absorb from the atmosphere minus how much it respires.
The biosphere is the layer of Earth where life exists. You, me, plants, insects bacteria and all living things on land, air and oceans are…
The main idea of photosynthesis is it takes carbon dioxide from the air. Then, it uses carbon with water to convert it into a chemical…
The Cambrian explosion was the largest diversification of life in Earth’s history. Ocean life started as sparse and simple. Then, it remarkably diversified.
Career
Earth scientists need all the *sciences* to understand how the Earth works. This list of 123 branches of Earth Science is the most in-depth you’ll…
Marine biologists specialize in how life in the oceans behave. They collect ocean samples, record fish distributions and conserve aquatic life in habitats.
Geologists study bedrock and surface rocks. They best understand how Earth’s land forms and rock change over time (physical and chemical structure).
From astrophysicists to arborists, this environmental science salary pyramid gives a sneak peak of how much earth scientists earn in their respective field.
Geotechnical Engineers understand the behavior of earth materials. For example, they interpret rock and soil samples to investigate subsurface conditions.
Biologist work with wildlife, marine life and vegetation. They analyze how living things, flora and fauna are composed like their structure & composition.
Geology
Like a stack of pancakes, younger rock layers pile on top of older layers. We use the law of superposition to reveal Earth’s age and…
The name “shield volcano” originated from its Roman shield-like shape. They are broad, flat and can stretch hundreds of miles wide like Mauna Loa in…
At the end of the Hadean Eon, the Earth was in the late bombardment stage. Earth and the entire solar system was pelted by asteroids,…
All planets have layers. Inside Earth, we have a crust, core and mantle. Imagine a team of drillers who set out to drill a hole…
Convergent plate boundaries have some of the most violent catastrophes and geology on Earth. When plates smash together, it has created chains of volcanoes.
Think of permafrost like glue. The ice is the glue in permafrost which holds the rocks, sand & soil. Like glue, permafrost doesn’t melt. Instead,…
Space
At all times the sun illuminates half of the moon. Depending on your point of view, this is what causes the various phases of the…
The color of the moon is mostly grey. And the lunar maria are dark grey. The 4 most dominant rocks are: mare basalts, breccia, anorthosite…
Today, you’re going to disover a whole list of Earth like planets. Like Kepler 62, Gliese-581c and Proxima Centauri b. These are Earth’s Doppelgängers.
We use the core accretion model to describe planet formation and the creation of our solar system which includes a central star and natural orbiting…
What brings order on Earth is gravity. For all matter, it’s always at work. This is how gravity works for ocean tides, planet formation and…
Planet Venus neighbors the Earth. It’s the second planet closest the sun. Other facts include its counterclockwise rotation and how it rains sulfuric acid.
Water
Coral reefs are biodiversity hotspots for ocean life. Remarkably, about 1/4 of marine species reside in them. So the spotlight is on coral reefs for…
Water is in the ground, on the surface, in the air and in our bodies. But how much global water distribution is in glaciers, groundwater,…
Since the year 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) started recognizing 5 oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Southern Ocean.
Oceans are salty because runoff transports minerals and salts from the surface. When ocean evaporates from heat, salt remains in the ocean and water rises.
As temperatures surge, sea levels rise with it. This is because melting ice sheets add to total water volume. By 2100, water levels could rise…
2 theories exist for the origin of water on Earth: Did comets transport water? Or was there degassing from volcanoes from rocks existing within the…
