sphero-, spher-, -sphere-

The internal substance of the earth enclosed by the lithosphere.

A spherical deep-diving chamber in which people are lowered by a cable from a surface vessel to study the oceans and deep-sea life.
2. A tethered metal sphere with an inside diameter of less than three feet in which the deep-sea pioneers cramp themselves for several hours during each immersion.

In 1934, a bathysphere carrying William Beebe and an associate reached a record depth of over 923 meters (3,028 feet).

Because space in the bathysphere is cramped, dives longer than three-and-a-half hours are intolerable, and it was eventually replaced by the bathyscaphe.

1. A device for obtaining a record of temperature against depth (pressure) in the ocean from a ship that is underway or in motion.
2. An instrument for recording water temperature as compared to depth.

That part of the lithosphere within which living organisms can exist.

Able to sustain organic life.

Specifically, a term for areas of land and water capable of supporting photosynthesis at sufficient rates so as to provide economically useful concentrations of biomass.

Marginal and unproductive regions are generally excluded; such as, deserts, tundra, and the deep oceans.

A system of estimating current fetal status determined by analysis of five variables via ultrasonography and non-stress testing.

Fetal breathing movements, gross body movement, fetal tone, amniotic fluid volume, and fetal heart rate reactivity are compared to specific criteria.

1. The regions of the earth’s crust and atmosphere that are occupied by living organisms; occasionally, the living organisms themselves.
2. The realm or sphere or life in which the total biological process takes place.

The earth's surface and the top layer of the hydrosphere (water layer) have the greatest density of living organisms.

The geosphere, or nonliving world, is made up of the lithosphere (solid earth or stone), hydrosphere, and atmosphere.

3. In Arizona, USA, an enclosed, supposedly self-contained experimental eco-system designed to provide environmental insights.

The initial two-year test, started in 1991, was called "Biosphere 1"; the second one was called "Biosphere 2", and was started in 1994.

The portion of the earth's atmosphere, 30-80 km above the surface, where chemical (especially photochemical) activity is most intense. It encompasses the stratosphere, the mesophere, and possibly a part of the thermosphere.