WATER AND CARBON Pt2 - The Water Cycle Flashcards
(61 cards)
1
Q
What is the estimated amount of global water?
A
1.338 billion km^3
2
Q
What is 97% of water stored as?
A
Oceanic
3
Q
What is the other 3% of global water stored as? (3)
A
- cryospheric
- terrestrial
- atmospheric
4
Q
What % of all freshwater is stored in aquifers?
A
30.1%
5
Q
In the global distribution of water, where are the majority of the worlds underground stores of freshwater found? (4)
A
- N + E Europe
- throughout Indonesia + E Australia
- throughout S America
- N and central Africa
6
Q
What is the name for aquifers that are now in arid areas but once weren’t due to continental drift?
A
Fossil aquifers
7
Q
What % of water is locked in as ice/groundwater, as ice melts or oceans?
A
98.9%
8
Q
How much water is in the form of atmospheric water?
A
12,900km^3
9
Q
How does atmospheric water cause positive and negative feedback in terms of climate change?
A
POS
- vapour is a greenhouse gas so incr climate change
NEG
- absorbs, reflects and scatters incoming solar radiation with maintains atmospheric temp
10
Q
What are the 3 types of rainfall in terms of atmospheric water?
A
- relief
- convectional
- frontal
11
Q
How much water is within oceanic water? + what’s the average depth
A
1.32 - 1.37 billion km^3
Average depth > 3.68km
12
Q
What percentage of the earth is covered by oceanic water (5 oceans and 130 seas)?
A
72%
13
Q
Isn oceanic water alkaline or acid and explain how this effects stores of salt due to changes?
A
pH 8.14 (contains salt so stays liquid at <0)
more acidic renfently (fallen from 8.25 in last 250 years) due to incr absorption of carbon from atmosphere which forms carbonate acid
14
Q
What are the 5 types of cryopheric water?
A
- Sea ice
- Ice sheets
- Ice caps
- Alpine glaciers
- Permafrost
15
Q
SEA ICE (CRYOSPHERIC WATER)
- What is sea ice formed?
A
- When water in oceans is cooled well below freezing
16
Q
ICE SHEETS (CRYOPSHERIC WATER)
- how big does it have to be
- what are the 2 still today
- formed at high or low altitude
- why are they constantly moving
A
- > 50,000km^3
- greenland and antarctica
- high so low snow melt
- goes downhill under own weight, at coast moves through faster moving outlets, ice shelves displace water when entering, not when they melt
17
Q
ICE CAPS (CRYOSPHERIC WATER)
- what are they
- how thick wee rhey
- where are they found
- example
A
- thick layers of land based ice
- <50,000km^3
- mountainous areas + dome shaped
- Furtwangler (Mt Kilamnjaro)
18
Q
ALPINE GLACIERS
(CRYOSPHERIC WATER)
- Where are they found and what are they
- Give an example + what river it supplies
A
- Thick masses of ice found in deep valleys and upland hollows
- Himalayas and Ganges river
19
Q
PERMAFROST (CRYOSPHERIC WATER)
- What is it
- What’s the depth
- When were they formed
- What is the problem with this when it melts
A
- Ground (soil or rock) that remains frozen for at least 2 consecutive years
- 1-1,500m
- Last ice age
- Releases large amounts of trapped methane
20
Q
What are the 4 types of terrestrial water?
A
- Surface water
- Ground water
- Soil water
- Biological water
21
Q
RIVERS (SURFACE WATER - TERRESTRIAL WATER)
- What % of all water is in rivers?
- Give an example of a river (areas drained and discharge)
A
- 0.0002%
- Amazon
- 7,050000km^3 of area drained
- 209,000m^3 per second discharge
22
Q
LAKES (SURFACE WATER - TERRESTRIAL WATER)
1. How big do they have to be
2. What size are large lakes
3. Where found
4. Example
A
- > 2 hectares
- > 10,000m^3
- Northern hemisphere and high latitudes
- Canada and Finland
23
Q
WETLANDS (SURFACE WATER - TERRESTRIAL WATER)
- what do they have a dominance of
- where does water have to be in comparison to soil
- what do they have differences in which means there is differences in water stored
- what are they a large store of
- example
A
- vegetation
- water covers soil, water present at surface, water present for varying periods
- soil, topography, climate, hydrology, water chemistry, vegetation, human disturbance
- carbon
- Pantanal > central western brazil and eastern bolivia
24
Q
GROUND WATER (TERRESTRIAL WATER)
- what is it
- what depth does it go to
- where does the water emerge
- why is the amount available rapidly reducing
A
- water collected underground
- <4m depth
- springs
- extensive extraction for use in irrigating agricultural through evapotranspiration in dry areas
25
SOIL WATER (TERRESTRIAL WATER)
1. how is it held together
2. what are the factors effecting hydrological, biological and bio geochemical importance
1. air in the unsaturated upper layers of soil
2. weather and climate, surface run off, soil erosion, slope failure, reserviour levels, water quality
26
BIOLOGICAL WATER (TERRESTRIAL WATER)
1. where is it stored
2. what happens if vegetation is destroyed
3. what is the process of the movement of water
1. plants (biomass)
2. cycle stops, climate becomes like desert, adaptations to environment (cacti + baobab trees)
3. plants/trees talk in water through their roots, transported/stored in trunk/branches, water lost by transpiration through stomata, allows regulation of the climate in specific environments
27
What is special about the hydrogen/oxygen bond in water?
Due to molecular polarity, water is a powerful solvent and is responsible for the strong surface tension > strong levels of attraction
28
What are the 6 unique properties of water?
1. High specific heat
2. Neutral in pure state
3. Good conducting liquid
4. Universal solvent
5. High surface tension
29
What is latent heat?
Molecules absorb the final energy they need to break bonds from their surroundings
30
What can the processes of ….. also be known as?
A - evaporation
B - condensation
A - cooling process
B - warming process
31
What is the movement between ….. known as?
A - solid and gas
B - gas and solid
C - solid and liquid
D - liquid and solid
E - liquid and gas
F - gas and liquid
A - sublimation
B - deposition
C - melting
D - freezing
E - evaporation
F - condensation
32
What are the residence times of …
A - soil
B - rivers
C - seasonal snow cover
D - glaciers
E - lakes
F - shallow ground water
G - deep ground water
A 1-2 months
B 2-6 months
C 2-6 months
D 20-100 years
E 50-100 years
F 100-200 years
G 10,000 years
33
What are the 4 reasons for why soil has such a small residence time?
1. Quickly percolated into bedrock
2. Transpired into atmosphere by plants
3. Transferred into rivers by through-flow
4. Evaporation into the atmopshere
34
What are the 4 things evaporation rates are affected by?
1. Amount of solar energy available
2. Availability of water
3. Humidity of air
4. Air temp
35
What is the definition of dew point?
As air cools, its able to hold less vapour, if cooled sufficiently, air will reach saturation, known as dew point, excess water converted back to liquid water
36
What are the 2 options required of water for it to condense?
1. Small particles to condense on (e.g. smoke, dust, salt) > condensation nuclei
2. Surfaces older then dew point temp (e.g. leaves, grass, windows). If colder then freezing point, then vapour sublimates to form hoar frost
37
What are the causations of condensation?
1. Temp of air is reduced to dew point
2. Volume of air increases but there is no addition of heat (relief + frontal rainfall)
38
CLOUD FORMATION
1. What is it due to
2. What happens at the equator
3. What happens at the mid latitudes
4. What drives the unstable weather conditions in the UK
5. Give an example of a localised scale cloud
1. Global circulation cells
2. High temps > high rates of evapotranspiration > moist air rises > cools and condenses to form banks of clouds and heavy rainfall in low pressure zones
3. Cloud formation driven by convergence of warm tropical air and cold arctic air > boundary creates polar front > rising air + cloud formation
4. Jet stream
5. Convectional thunderstorms
39
Explain the cryospheric process
- stores not stable over a geological time period
- compressed ice sheets cause long term storage
- in summer, melt water evaporates (sublimation)
40
What are some of the impacts of climate change on the water system? (3)
- shift in equilibrium line
- positive feedback of increased sea level rise and ice melting
- melancovitch cycles impacted e.g. glacial and interglacial periods
41
What is the soil water budget?
+ what are the inputs and outputs
A graph of how inputs/outputs of water within a drainage basin over the course of a year. These are:
1. Monthly precipitation
2. Monthly evapotranspiration
42
How do these hill slope water cycle factors have an impact on surface water (a), soil water (b), and groundwater (c) on…
1. Deforestation
2. Storms
3. Farming
4. Seasonal changes
5. Urbanisation
1.
A incr
B decr
C decr
2.
A incr
B incr
C incr
3.
A incr
B decr
C decr
4.
A incr
B decr
C decr
5.
A incr
B decr
C decr
43
What is the soil water budget equation?
Runoff = precipitation - evaporation +/- changes in stores
44
NEED TO EXPLAIN SOIL WATER BUDGET GRAPH
45
What are the factors that increase overland flow and therefore risk of flooding? (6)
1. Deforestation
2. Steep relief
3. Impermeable surfaces - concrete
4. Agricultural machinery - compression
5. Impermeable bedrock
6. Snow melt/heavy precipitation
46
What things lead to a decrease in the risk of flooding? (4)
1. Planting trees
2. Flat ground
3. Permeable green areas
4. Permeable ground rock
47
What is the water balance equation?
P = O + E +/- S
Precipitation = total run off + evapotranspiration +/- stores
48
What causes a “flashy” hydrograph > vice versa for a “subdued” hydrograph (8)
1. Rapid infiltration so overland flow occurs
2. Impermeable rock
3. Steep relief
4. Land use >urban
5. Small and round drainage basin
6. Deforestation
7. Farmed land
8. Frozen ground
49
What % do each of these types of vegetation have as loss of water by interception (average per year)
1. Temperate pine forest
2. Brazilian evergreen rainforest
3. Grass
4. Pasture (clover)
5. Coniferous forest
6. Temperate deciduous forest
7. Cereal crop
1. 94% (low intensity) or 15% (high intensity)
2. 66%
3. 30-60%
4. 40% in growing season
5. 30-35%
6. 20% (with leaves spring/summer) or 17% (without leaves autumn/winter)
7. 7-15% growing season
50
What do you do in order to complete the spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and what is the equation
1. Rank first column largest to smallest
2. Rank second variable
3. Find difference between ranks (d)
4. Do d^2 for each and sum them together
5. Calculate n > number of pairs of data
6. Substitute into equation
Rs = 1 - (6(sum d^2)/n^3-n)
51
SPEARMANS RANK
1. What is the value for no correlation, perfect positive correlation and perfect negative correlation in the spearman’s rank correlation
2. What is the rejection level
3. What is the key wording used
4. Reasons for why Rs might be under significance level (2)
5. Minimum pairs of sets of data for you to be able to complete the spearman’s rank
1.
No correlation = 0
Perfect positive = 1
Perfect negative = -1
2.
Rejection level = a
If 95% certain >
A = (100-95)/100
= 0.05
3.
No statistically significant correlation between the two variables
4.
- not a relationship > not a statistically significant one
- sample size too small
5.
10
52
What are the flooding factors?
- antecedent soil moisture (saturated)
- proximity to river
- soil type e.g. clay
- rainfall event > duration, intensity, total amount
- relief > gradients and altitude
- land use change > deforestation, urbanisation, agriculture
- permability of rocks
- temperature
- drainage systems
- natural human hazards
53
What are the 5 physical factors that effect changes to the water cycle?
1. Precipitation
2. Vegetation e.g. interception and transpiration
3. Evaporation
4. Soil water
5. River channel flow
54
What is the biotic pump theory?
Forests (low pressure zones) such as moisture from oceans to the driver interiors of continents
55
What are the 3 human factors affecting changes to the water cycle?
1. Deforestation
2. Soil drainage
3. Water abstraction
56
DEFORESTATION AS A HUMAN FACTOR AFFECTING CHANGES IN THE WATER CYCLE
1. What happens short term
2. What happens long term
3. What’s happened in THE AMAZON
4. How extensive does it have to be to make an impact
1.
- less water evaporation
- incr surface run off and stream flow
2.
- decr in discharge as high volume of water leaves system
- decr evapotranspiration, atmospheric moisture to condense to rainfall and river levels long term
3.
- 10% gone in last 50 years
- international demand caused it > cattle feed (soy), beef, sugar cane, ethanol
- high biodiversity
- 1/4 of worlds river discharge
4.
- little effect when <20%
- large increase when >50% of basin deforested
56
SOIL DRAINAGE AS A HUMAN FACTOR AFFECTING CHANGES IN THE WATER CYCLE
1. What is the name of the things used for this to happen
2. What is a positive for this
3. What are the ways to overcome problems of soil drainage
1. Perforated tubes > tiles
2. Incr productivity
3. Controlled discharge + water table > incr rate of denitrification
57
What is denitrfication?
Process of inverting nitrate into harmless nitrogen gas > when saturated soils in warm spring, decr risk of eutrophication
58
1. Advantages of draining marginal farmland
2. Disadvantages if draining marginal farmland
1.
- improves oil structure, incr root penetration (faster and further)
- improved aeration (good for microorganisms), incr matter breakdown, incr humus + plant nutrients
- improved aeration > incr ease of soil warming, seeds sown earlier + more likely germination
- compaction of soil > heavy agricultural machinery + grazing animals is less likely, decr overland flow
2.
- drains incr through flow speed, incr risk of flooding
- dry top soil > incr soil erosion, soil loss by winds (East Midlands and east anglia)
- nitrate loss > eutrophication. Water drains into water courses + enriches water with nitrogen and phosphorus > rapid growth of algae. Fish die > rapid decrease in water/oxygen
59
WATER ABSTRACTION AS A HUMAN FACTOR AFFECTING CHANGES IN THE WATER CYCLE
1. What is the main reason for why it is needed
2. Where in the world has its most dominant water source as groundwater
3. Where are the 3 places where groundwater has been contaminated due to this process
4. Disadvantage of this
1. Irrigation
2. Europe
3. Milan, Greece, Malta
4. Decreasing water table > feeder springs dry up
60
WATER ABSTRACTION IN CHALK ENVIRONMENTS > SOUTHERN ENGLAND
1. What is the aquifer in southern England and what is it replenished by
2. What are the seasonal groundwater variations
3. What is the name for streams that feed into rivers in chalk environments
4. What quantity is the water in chalk streams
1. By rainfall on exposed chalk in North and South Downs and Chilterns
2.
- rising > autumn > winter > spring
- falling > summer where evapotranspiration >rainfall
- soil moisture deficit build up > little to no percolation
3. Bournes
4. High
