Fascinating. "Energy flows, matter cycles" is such a clear way of thinking of the small water cycle, a real Aha! experience. By this formula, wouldn't it follow that the more matter (life) there is cycling, the more heat there is flowing to space. In other words, if we want to help the earth cool itself, we help it grow. Is that thermodynamically correct?
Here's one thing that puzzles me. My understanding is that computer modelers treat the heat dissipated in the atmosphere as part of evapotranspiration as returning entirely to Earth. I've had a couple scientists tell me that the heat released from clouds during rain formation just goes "back into the system." It makes no sense to me. Any clarification would be appreciated.
Fascinating. "Energy flows, matter cycles" is such a clear way of thinking of the small water cycle, a real Aha! experience. By this formula, wouldn't it follow that the more matter (life) there is cycling, the more heat there is flowing to space. In other words, if we want to help the earth cool itself, we help it grow. Is that thermodynamically correct?
Here's one thing that puzzles me. My understanding is that computer modelers treat the heat dissipated in the atmosphere as part of evapotranspiration as returning entirely to Earth. I've had a couple scientists tell me that the heat released from clouds during rain formation just goes "back into the system." It makes no sense to me. Any clarification would be appreciated.
Thanks for your great work.
I have found an interesting article on the topic, the 'Entropy, Ecology and Evolution: Toward a Unified Philosophy of Biology by Samuel A. Cushman':
"In the thermodynamic perspective advocated here, ecosystems are perhaps best considered
to be networks of self-replicating dissipative structures (organisms) that have emergent
properties of dissipative structures themselves. The predictable pattern of trophic levels,
food webs, utilization and assimilation and production efficiencies across ecological systems
indicate the tight control that energetics has on the structure of communities and ecosystems.
A community or an ecosystem therefore is a kind of dissipative structure, in which networks
of other dissipative structures (organisms) evolve to maximize their fitness in survival and
reproduction, which in thermodynamic terms means the efficiency in which they can utilize,
assimilate and use energy, and which, when stood back upright thermodynamically, means
that ecosystems are the emergent effect of the cascade of energy through the biosphere.
Communities and ecosystems are emergent properties of a system that has evolved to most
efficiently dissipate energy and increase entropy. By focusing on the fundamental entity
(energy), and the fundamental process (dissipation and disordering of energy and increasing
of entropy) we are able to have a much clearer and powerful understanding of what life
is, from the level of biochemistry, to evolution, to the nature of the organism itself, to the
emergent structures of ecosystems, food webs, communities and landscapes."
https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/25/3/405
Thank you so much for this deeper explanation.