Water and Carbon cycles Flashcards
What is a system?
A set of interrelated events or components working together. It consists of inputs, outputs and stores with a series of flows between these.
What are three types of systems?
Open
Closed
Isolated
What is an open system?
One that allows transfer of both energy and matter freely into and out of the system. Open systems receive inputs and transfer outputs of energy and matter with other systems.
What is a closed system?
One that allows transfer of energy into and out of the system but not transfer of matter. Energy inputs equal outputs in closed systems.
What is an isolated system?
One which has no interactions with anything outside of the system boundary- there is no input or output of energy or matter.
What is a sub-system?
This is a component of a larger system. The earth has 5 sub-systems, which are open systems with interrelationships between them.
What are the earth’s 5 sub-systems?
- Atmosphere
- Cryosphere
- Hydrosphere
- Biosphere
- Lithosphere
What is an input?
Inputs are energy or matter being added to a system. The main input to systems is precipitation which is any water falling to the surface of the earth from the atmosphere-rain/snow/hail. Precipitation is different to rain fall.
Outline an explain the 3 types of rainfall.
- Convectional: This rainfall occurs due to the surface of the earth being heated up by the sun, causing water to evaporate, forming water vapour and warm air to rise.As it rises, it cools & water vapour condenses to form clouds. When condensation point is reached, larger cumulonimbus clouds are formed, leading to the occurrence of rainfall.
- Relief: This occurs when warm, wet air is forced to rise over high land, such as mountains. The air rises, cools and condenses. Clouds form and precipitation occurs.
- Frontal: This is when cold air meets warm air in a ‘wether front’. Warm air rises and is less dense, so therefore lighter so when it bumps into the cold air, it rises above it. As the warm air rises more, it cools and condenses, forms clouds and falls as rain.
What is an output?
Outputs are energy or matter leaving the system and they come in the form of evapotranspiration and streamflow.
What is evapotranspiration?
Comprised of evaporation and transpiration-evaporation occurs when water is heated by the sun, turning it to a gas and causing it to rise into the atmosphere as water vapour.
Transpiration is the evaporation of water from plants occurring at the leaves while their stomata are open for the passage of CO2 and O2 during photosynthesis.
What is streamflow?
All water that enters a drainage basin will either leave through the atmosphere, or through streams which drain the basin. These may flow as tributaries into other rivers or directly into lakes and oceans. (Tributary: a river or stream flowing into a larger river or lake).
List the 7 flows in a system.
- Infiltration
- Percolation
- Throughflow
- Surface runoff (overland flow)
- Groundwater flow
- Streamflow
- Stemflow
List the 5 stores in a system.
- Soil water
- Groundwater
- River Channel
- Interception
- Surface storage
Define infiltration
This is the process of water moving from above ground into the soil. The infiltration capacity refers to how quickly infiltration occurs. Grass crops and tree roots create passages for water to flow through from the surface into the soil, therefore increasing the infiltration capacity. If precipitation falls at a greater rate than the infiltration capacity then overland flow will occur - moderate/fast.
