The Background,Problems and Development Strategy of Earth System Science

The difference in research approaches between Earth System Science( ESS) and conventional Earth Science was compared in this paper.The emergence of ESS has brought about many challenges for the branches of conventional Earth Science.The following characteristics of ESSstudies are proposed:( 1 ) organizing a team of 1 5— 2 0 researchers with different academic backgrounds is the basis to study ESS; ( 2 ) the system integration of the branches of Earth Science is the basic path of ESS development;and( 3) the interaction between life system and non- life system is the focus of ESS studies.Suggestions about the development of ESS are proposed as well.