Schematic View of the Earth System

Among the representative processes depicted are (clockwise from top); atmospheric chemistry (box); winds (blue arrows); evaporation and precipitation; critical ingredients of the physical climate system; ocean circulation (purple arrows) around the polar ice cap; sea-floor spreading, reshaping Earth's surface and recycling elements through the interior (section); and photosynthesis by terrestrial vegetation, one of many contributors to the global carbon cycle.

From Earth Systems Sciences Committee, 'Earth System Science Overview,' National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington DC, 48 pages, May 1986.