Unit 1: Water Cycle Flashcards
(53 cards)
What is the Water Cycle?
The continuous movement of water between the atmosphere, oceans and land.
What are some impacts and uses of the water cycle?
• Need it to survive
• Need it to heat houses (radiators)
• Toiletry & sewage systems
• Most of the world is water
• Need it to wash
• Can cause catastrophes (natural disasters, ie floods, tsunamis)
• Need it to grow crops & food
• Causes erosion/weathering, so we need to know the effects on sediments for building purposes
What % of global water is stored in the Oceans?
97.36%
= almost 98%
What % of global water is stored in the Land?
2.55%
= almost 3%
What % of global water is stored in the Atmosphere?
0.00092%
What is the Cryosphere?
Areas of the Earth where water is frozen
Ie glaciers, sea ice, permafrost
What are some flows into the cryosphere mass balance?
Evaporation
Precipitation
Evaporation
Run-off
What are some stores of the cryosphere mass balance?
Glacial ice
Ocean
Land
Atmosphere
Soil groundwater
What are some inputs into the cryosphere mass balance?
Precipitation
What are some outputs from the cryosphere mass balance?
Sublimation
Evaporation
Carving
Transpiration
What is an open system?
A system in which the quantity of water will vary over time.
What is a closed system?
A system in which the quantity of water is fixed.
A drainage basin is an open system because…
It can be influenced by other factors.
The global water cycle is a closed system because…
We cannot add more water, we have a fixed volume of water
What is Arctic Amplification?
An enhanced global warming effect in the Arctic areas.
For example, the global warming has increased approximately 1°C above pre industrial areas, in Arctic areas it is above 2°C.
What is albedo?
The reflectability of surfaces
As rates of accumulation decrease and rates of ablation increase within the crysophere, runoff causes the store of water in the oceans to…
Increase
What is a rising sea level due to?
• Run-off of melt water from glaciers and ice sheets.
• Thermal expansion of seawater as it warms
What is the Water balance/budget?
The water balance or budget affects how much water is stored in a terrestrial drainage system over a typical year.
What is the formula of Precipitation?
Precipitation (P) = Stream/river flow (Q) + Evapotranspiration (E)
• If P > Q+E in the water balance, there is a _____ balance
• If P < Q+E in the water balance, there is a _____ balance
positive
negative
What is the Soil Moisture Storage?
The level of water stored in the land (in the soil)
What does a soil water surplus mean?
There is excess water available to the system and the soil is saturated.
Precipitation exceeded evapotranspiration for a prolonged period and the excess is not being used by plants.
What does soil water utilisation mean?
There is a reduction of water available within the system as evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation.
Plant growth increases transpiration rates and increasing temperatures increase evaporation.
