4.1: Introduction to water systems Flashcards
What are the storages of the hydrological cycle?
Storages:
- Oceans
- Surface waters, such as streams, rivers and lakes
- Ice caps and glaciers
- Soil moisture
- Water vapour and clouds within the atmosphere
- Groundwater within aquifers
- Organisms, such as plants and animals.
The flows of the water cycle can be categorized as either ____(a)____ or ____(b)_____
a) transformations (change in chemical composition)
b) transfers
What are the major transformations and transfers in the hydrological cycle (state them)
Transformations:
- Evaporation
- Transpiration
- Evapotranspiration
- Sublimination (solid –> gas without going liquid)
- Condensation
- Melting
- Freezing
- Deposition (gass –> solid without going liquid)
Transfers:
- Precipitation
- Surface run - off
- Infiltration
- Absorption
- Percolation
- Groundwater flow –> When groundwater flows into open oceans or rivers
- Stream flow
- Flooding
Explain the flows of water between storages in the hydrological cycle
- Water to the atmosphere
- Water goes from liquid to vapour as the sun causes evaporation from water bodies
- Through transpiration water moves from the root system in plants to the leaves, where it is lost as vapour to the atmosphere
- ⭐when evaporation and transpiration happen at the same time it’s called evapotranspiration
- las plantas tipo transpiran y eso se evapora
- This makes clouds that are transported by the wind: this is called advection
- Water out of atmosphere
- the water droplets of the clouds become heavy and precipitate
- in low temperatures → deposition (water vapour in clouds forms snow
What is the global conveyor belt dependent on
- driven by differences in water density, density which is dependent on:
- Temperature (thermo), the colder the water the more dense it is.
- Salinity (haline), the greater the salinity the more dense the water becomes
Outline the global conveyor belt (explain)
Important: cold water = sinks, hot water = rises
- Cold air at the poles cools the water →becomes denser and sinks
- water that freezes leaves behind salt and raises the salininity → this makes water more dense
- deep cold water moves towards the equator and as the water warms → becomes less dense and rises to become surface waters
How can humans impact the hydrological cycle (HINT:4)
- Extracting water from various points of the hydrological cycle
- Deforestation
- Urbanisation 🏗️
- Agriculture
Extracting water from various points of the hydrological cycle - what does this do ?
Alters natural flow of water
Deforestation - what does this do to the hydrological cycle?
a. increses surface run-off
i. without vegetation to protect the soil it gets more eroded
ii. increases risk of flooding
b. Loss of the forest effectively removes trees as water stores
i. reduces infiltration and percolation
ii. Larger amounts of water entering the river may result in flooding downstream
c. loss of forests results in drier climates
i. makes it less moist because reduced evaporation → no more wet micro-climate
How does urbanisation lead to flash floods
The run-off when it rains is diverted to drainage systems can cause flooding
- see: new york
Outline how a Sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) can be used to improve water quality
- Reducing quantity of run-off by encouraging water to pass into the ground and aquifer
- use of porous material (such as gravel) allow water to pass through into soil and groundwater stores
- Slowing the velocity of the run-off by diverting water from roofs and roads into infiltration trenches
- Green spaces on roadside margins called swales can filter the water removing particulates and other pollutants as well as acting as temporary storage sites for storm water
- Ponds and wetland systems can also be used to intercept run-off and act as retention areas reducing flood peaks
Agriculture - what does this do to the hydrological cycle?
- largest use of water
- excessive irrigation and poor drainage increases soil salinity
- pesticides lead to eutrophication
