1. “It’s the “It’s the SYSTEM !” SYSTEM !” Complex Earth Systems
Lynn S. Fichter and Eric Pyle
Geology and Environmental Science: James Madison University

2. It’s the SYSTEM
It’s the SYSTEM

3. When we say “The Earth is a System” . . .
. . . Is it similar to or different from . . .
a school system,
the Federal Reserve System,
the Global Positioning System,
an operating system,
or the solar system.

4. For example . . . a Dictionary definition
A naturally occurring group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements, forming a complex whole.
Yet, we might ask, “Interacting how?” “Interrelated how?” “Interdependent how?”
Are the relationships a lucky accident?
Or Teleological?
Or random?
Or evolutionary?
How they became Interacting, Interrelated, and Interdependent is what we are trying to determine. We cannot assume what it is our purpose to discover.
Plus, what does it mean for something to “naturally occur” (more ambiguity).

5. For example . . . a Dictionary definition
A naturally occurring group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements, forming a complex whole.
And “complex whole?” Is it complex just because it has a bunch of parts, like a car?
Or is it complex in the way people are complex?

6. For example . . . a Dictionary definition
A naturally occurring group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements, forming a complex whole.
And is behavior important?
What about a bunch of parts that have simple behavior, like a car, or a watch?
Or, simple parts that have complex behavior, like the logistic systems behavior below right?
A system with complexity (like a car) is not a complex system (like Earth systems)

7. Systems (in the technical sense of Complex Systems Theory) is not new and has many parents.
Chaos and fractal geometry
Self Organization
Self-organized criticality
Cybernetics
Network theory
Cellular automata
Artificial Life
Genetic algorithms
Computational modeling
Artificial Intelligence

8. But, if we push the system harder Its behavior evolves into this.
We are educated to think about systems in a classical way; they spontaneously evolved to equilibrium.
Studies why and how the behavior of simple systems—becomes more complex and unpredictable as the energy/information the system dissipates increases.
Earth Systems do not behave this way. + -
Xnext = rX (1-X)
But this way.
A classical equilibrium system
A non-equilibrium complex system
But, if we push the system harder
Its behavior evolves into this.
System evolves to equilibrium
System evolves to complexity

9. Is imbedded within . . .
Complex Systems
Theory

10. the individual units that are interacting, like . . .
Complex Systems
Theory
studies how systems with many “agents” that are already at high energy/information dissipation interact and behave.
Agent:
the individual units that are interacting, like . . .

11. Vehicle “agents” interacting in high traffic at high energy/information flow.

12. Friction“agents” interacting along a fault zone

13. Sand grain ”agents” interacting to form ripples and cross beds.
All these systems derive their order from the acting out of simple rules among the agents
Sand grain ”agents” interacting to form ripples and cross beds.
Local Rules leads to Global Behavior
The Rules can be the laws of chemistry and physics, or biological rules, or network rules, or mathematic rules.

14. All these are systems in the same way.
Self Organizing Complex Systems are Ubiquitous
All these are systems in the same way.
What makes a system a Complex systems is they exhibit the same universality properties
Chengjiang network
(properties common to all systems, whether they be chemical, biological, economic, social, geoscience, etc.)
© 2012 Lynn S. Fichter

15. Universality Properties of Complex System are . . .
. . . a group of agents . . .
. . . existing far from equilibrium . . .
. . . interacting through rules of +\- feedbacks
. . . forming evolutionary networks . . .
. . . that self organize to critical states (SOC) . . .
. . . where they become sensitive dependent . . .
. . . and undergo avalanche (extinction) behavior. . .
. . . that follows a power law. . .
In addition:
. . . they behave as strange attractors . . .
Bard E. Abrupt climate changes over millennial time scales: climate shock. Physics Today 55, (2002) (link)
. . . with oscillating (hysteresis) behavior . . .
. . . and fractal organization (patterns within patterns within patterns).

16. There are many ways of looking at the Earth as a system; they each have their uses.
But if we are not looking at them as Complex Systems in the technical sense we are missing some of the most interesting and important properties.