Atmosphere: the gases.

• what is the air you breath composed of?
• why does it have the composition it does?
• how is it stratified (vertically stacked components)?
• what drives and shapes atmospheric circulation?

Hydrosphere: liquid water.

• where does water reside?
• how salty is the ocean and where do the 'salts' come from?
• why and how are the oceans stratified?
• what drives oceanic circulation?

Cryosphere: ice.

• where is the ice?
• a separate sphere or part of the hydrosphere?
• because of coupling with sea level a very significant component.
• the recent Ice Age.

Biosphere: living things.

• what are characteristics of life?
• how much is there?
• terrestrial versus marine versus crustal subsystems.
• what is the importance of aerobes vs. anaerobes?

Geosphere (lithosphere): sediments, rocks and magma.

• what is the earth made of ?
• how is the earth internally stratified?
• what is a rheid?
• a definition of plate tectonics.

Pyschosphere: defined as that connected to the humanity.

• why not part of the biosphere?
• the importance of technology plus population feedback dynamics.

What are some important descriptors of system components?

• pressure, temperature, thermal constants (of heat content, expandability), composition, density, viscosity.
• how do you model the variation in these attributes through space and time?