Atmospheric .Environment Pergamon Press 1972. Vol. 6, pp. 579-580. Printed in Great Britain.

LETTER TO THE EDITORS

GAIA AS SEEN THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE

THE CLIMATE and the chemical composition of the Earth is usually said to be uniquely favourable for
life; indeed, it is not commonly known how small are the changes which might render the planet
unsuited for the contemporary biota. An increase in oxygen concentration to 25 per cent would so
increase the probability of fires that even tropical rain forests might be in hazard. A change in atmos-
pheric pressure of 10 per cent, assuming that the composition remained unchanged, would cause
a change of 4°C in the mean surface temperature; enough to set the world on an unfavourable climatic
course. These are but two examples chosen from many which might show just how well suited is the
environment of Earth for life. Or, is it more probable that the biosphere interacts actively with the
environment so as to hold it at an optimum of its choosing?
The purpose of this letter is to suggest that life at an early stage of its evolution acquired the capacity
to control the global environment to suit its needs and that this capacity has persisted and is still in
active use. In this view the sum total of species is more than just a catalogue, “The Biosphere”, and
like other associations in biology is an entity with properties greater than the simple sum of its parts.
Such a large creature, even if only hypothetical, with the powerful capacity to homeostat the planetary
environment needs a name; I am indebted to Mr. William Golding for suggesting the use of the
Greek personification of mother Earth, “Gaia”.
As yet there exists no formal physical statement of life from which an exclusive test could be
designed to prove the presence of “Gaia” as a living entity. Fortunately such rigour is not usually
expected in biology and it may be that the statistical nature of life processes would render such an
approach a sterile one. At present most biologists can be convinced that a creature is alive by argu-
ments drawn from phenomenological evidence. The persistent ability to maintain a constant temper-
ature and a compatible chemical composition in an environment which is changing or is perturbed if
shown by a biological system would usually be accepted as evidence that it was alive. Let us consider
the evidence of this nature which would point to the existence of Gaia.
During the period that life has existed on Earth, at least 3 giga-years, there have been profound
changes in the chemical and physical enviro~ent. RUBEY(1951), CLOUD (1968), HOLLAND(1964).
The pE has gone from less than -5 to +13 and the output of radiant energy from the sun will have
increased by approximately one astronomica order, if it is a typical star moving along the main
sequence. The change from reducing to oxidizing conditions carried the atmosphere through a
sequence of quite different chemical compositions and at the same time the solar output was steadily
increasing; yet the geological record and the fact of the persistence of life shows that the surface
temperature did not vary by more than a few degrees from its current levels. These changes in the
Earth’s environment probably, although not certainly, occurred slowly enough for life to adapt.
Even so, it would have been a remarkable coincidence for these environmental changes always to
have followed that narrow path whose bounds are the conditions permitting the continued existence
of life. It is even more improbable that this could have happened in a system where the energy
received from the sun was also changing by a substantial amount. In the face of these improbabilities
the presence of a biological cybernetic systemable to homeostat the planet for an optimum physical
and chemical state appropriate to its current biosphere becomes a possibility.
Another body of evidence which favours the existence of Gaia comes from a consideration of the
contemporary atmospheres of the Earth and of Mars. It has frequently been stated, LEWIS and
RANDALL (1923), H~CHI~N (1954), SILLEN (1966) that the presence of nitrogen in the present
atmosphere is a chemical anomaly, for the stable form of the element nitrogen at the present state of
oxidation of the Earth is the nitrate ion in solution in the oceans. An even greater chemical disparity
is the simultaneous presence of oxygen and of methane in the air. In fact a close examination of the
composition of the atmosphere reveals that it has departed so far from any conceivable abiological
steady state equilibrium that it is more consistent in composition with a mixture of gases contrived
for some specific purpose. Such an examination was used to prove that the presence of life on Earth
could be inferred simply from a knowledge of the chemical composition of the atmosphere (HITCH-
COCK and LOVELOCK, 1967). The cratered moonlike appearance of Mars revealed by the television
experiment aboard the 1965 Mariner space craft (LEIGHTON et al., 1965) suggested that Mars was
unlikely to bear life. This evidence together with the arguments above were used (LWE~OCK and
GIFFEN, 1969) to predict that Mars would have little or no nitrogen in its atmosphere.
Finally it can be shown that if life on Earth were to cease, the oxygen and the nitrogen would
decline in concentration until they were both trace components in an atmosphere of water vapour,
579
580 Letter to the Editors

carbon dioxide and noble gases. Earth without life would have an atmosphere whose chemical
composition was a reasonable interpolation between those of Mars and Venus and appropriate to its
station in the solar system. Life is abundant on Earth and the chemically reactive gases almost all
have their principal sources and sinks in the biosphere. This taken with the evidence above is sufBcient
to justify the probability that the atmosphere is a biological contrivance, a part and a property of
Gaia. If this is assumed to be true then it follows that she who controls the atmospheric composition
must also be able to control the climate. In this hypothesis the air is not to be thought of as a living
part of Gaia but rather as an essential but non-living component which can be changed or adapted
as the needs require. Like the fur of a mink or the shell of a snail.
The concept of Gaia has been intuitively familiar throughout history and perhaps only recently has
it been distorted by ~t~op~ntric rational~tions. One of these, fashio~ble in discourse upon the
“Environment” is that we are travellers within the “Space Ship Earth” and that the biosphere is
there as a “Life Support System”, presumably for our special benefit. Analogies of this form; are
used in considerations of the possible consequences of; species deletions, destructive changes of the
land surfaces by farming and pollution. They are both misleading and unnecessary as a replacement
for the older concept of the Earth as a very large living creature, Gaia, several giga-years old who has
moulded the surface, the oceans, and the air to suit her and for the very brief time we have been part
of her, our needs.
Dep~fmenf of Applied Physical Sciences J. E. LOVELOCK
University of Reading

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