ELSS Flashcards
WATER CYCLE
whats the measure of the ammount that links the stores
flux
WATER CYCLE
whats the importance of water to life on earth ( 6)
physiological solvent - dissolve substances
transport -solvent in blood and sap, transporting o2 co2…
temp control - evaporation of water cools body
high shc - slow heating and cooling
aquatic habitats
photosyntheses - h from water - glucose
WATER CYCLE
3 main sources and percentages
ocean = largest 97%
atmosphere
land
human like only has access to 1%
WATER CYCLE
units of stores and flows
stores = thousands of cubic kilometers
flows = thousands of cubic kilomiters/year
WATER CYCLE
infiltration
groundwater store
groundwater flow
interception loss
ablation
evapotranspiration
infiltration - water through soil
groundwater store - volume of water in aquifire
groundwater flow - horizontal movement through aquifire
interception loss - volume of water evaporated from leaves
ablation - loss of ice and snow through melting, sublimation
evapotranspiration - evaporation from anywhere including plants
WATER CYCLE
factors affecting interception loss
(4)
storage capacity - when vegetation is saturated stemflow and throughfall increases
wind speed = reates of evaporation incrwase due to wind speed and turbulance increasing causing through fall
tree species = evergreen = more then dudicuous as evergreen have needles which trap water and keep leaves all year round
vegetation type = interception losses are greater with trees with largest SA and arerodynamic roughness
WATER CYCLE
2 run off theories
- infiltration excess overland flow
precipitation rate is greater then infiltration capacity = RUN OFF
linked to rainfall intensity = doesnt have to be saturated
- saturated overland flow
run off occours when ground is saturated = impermeable due to pores filled
WATER CYCLE
how are stores and flows infulenced
temporal
human
spatial
temporal =
-colder at night
- tropics have no seasons
- night time stomata closes meaning no photosynthesis and o transpiration
human =
- extraction of water from aquaphor and surface stores
- more run off in urban areas = impermeable ground
spatial =
lower latitudes = higher temperatures due to the amgle of radiation from sun varying = more evaporation
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
whats a drainage baisin
area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet such as a river or other body of water
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
factors affecting the inputs human and physical
precipitation
interception
precipitation
h= cloud seeding
concreted areas heating up air = rise
p=seasons
high temp = evaporation
low temp = snow
areas of deforestation = less water
interception
h= deforestation
p=rain intensity
tree species
vegetation type
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
factors affecting the flows and outputs human and physical
run off
evaporation
river channel
run off
h=urban area - concrete
p= permaebility
gradient
evaporation
h=lake behind dams increases evaporation
climate change
p=temperature
river channel
h= dredging
p= permeability
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
water balance
the equilibrium of inputs and outputs
taking into account:
precipitation
evapotranspiration
run off
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
precipitation in depth (2)
- some places is concentrated with rainy and dry seasons
- high latitudes = snow
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
evaporation in depth (1)
- heat is needed to break mollecuar bonds in water. the energy is absorbed and is released as latent heat in condensation
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
transpiration in depth (2)
- influenced by temperature and wind speed
- plants shed leaves to reduce water loss
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
- hydrological cycle process -
condensation
- when the air rises it cools, the relative humidity increases to 100%, it can no longer hold it as a gas, so condensation occours
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
- hydrological cycle process -
3 types of clouds and formation
cumuliform = parsals of rising air = convective rainfall ( fluffy)
cirrus = high altitude = made from ice crystals ( foggy )
stratus = sheet cloud moving from air moving from high to low temp
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
- hydrological cycle process -
whats the cry-sphere
purt of the planet where ice exists
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
- lapse rates -
whats latent heat
- energy released or absorbed during a state change
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
- lapse rates -
whats adrabatic expansion
- energy in clouds doesnt leave as air is a good insulator
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
- lapse rates -
environmental lapse rate
- rate at which temp chnages with altutude
decreases 6.5/km
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
- lapse rates -
dry adiabatic lapse rate
- rate at which parcel of dry air heated from the ground cools
temp decrases 10/km
THE OPEN WATER CYCLE
- lapse rates -
saturated adiabatic lapse rate
- rate at which saturated air cools when it rises through atmosphere
latent heat is releaced whrough condensation
decreases 7 degrees/km
LAPSE RATES ( convective rainfall )
how to use in exam question
Convective rainfall all year round within tropics
The ground heats due to solar radiation causing a parsal of dry air to rise at the DRY ADIABATIC LR, cooling at 10 degrees /km. As it rises and cools, it reaches the dew point, the air condenses and latent heat insulates the cloud, reducting LR. The cloud continues to rise and cool at a slower rate now at the SATURATED ADIABATIC LR, at 7 degrees/km. The cloud stops rising when the temp of cloud becomes equal with the temperature of the environment.
RAINFALL - orographic rain fall
how to use in a question
During summer in the northern hemisphere, southwesterly warm, moist air called the monsoon is forced over himalayas. The air cools as it expands due to decreasing pressure, where it condenses at the dew point, causing extremely high preceipitation in the North of India. However the other side of the tibetian plateau experiences a large rain shadow and an extremely dry desert
CARBON CYCLE
importance
foccil feuls - economy
proteins and carbs - nutrition
materilas containing carbon - wood
CARBON CYCLE CHANGE / TIME
decomposition
DECOMPOSITION
anaerobic = methane releaced which is 25x more powerful then co2
- occours in tundra =oxygen depleted
aerobic = co2 released
- occours in rainforest
- due to global warming = increased temperature increases decomposition = more co2 into atmosphere
CARBON CYCLE
main store
sedimenory rock EG: Limestone
at 99.9% and 100,000,00GT
SLOW CARBON CYCLE
processes
small flux and high stores
CARBON INTO ENVIRONMENT
co2 diffused into ocean = solution. Used by marine organisms, mixed with clcium to make shells. Die and sink, thousands of years accumulates increasing pressue = sedimentory rock
CARBON INTO ATMOSPHERE
- volcanos erupting, co2 releaced when tectonic plates melt as one subducts the other.
- exposed sedimentory rocks from ejection attacked by acid rain
FAST CARBON CYCLE
processes
large flux and high stores
CARBON INTO ENVIRONMENT
- photosynthesis = co2 absorbed by green plants to create feul eg; glucose for metabolic reactions
- plyoplankton use dissolved co2 for shells
- plants are eaten and co2 moves down food chain
CARBON INTO ATMOSPHERE
- northen hemisphere winter = few plants growing and more decaying by composers eg; fungi and bacteria usually in humid environment. REaleacing co2 into atmosphere and biosphere
- respiration = plants and animals breaking down glucose into energy releacing co2
- combustion = releacing co2 inot environment in presence of o2, can be human or physical
CARBON CYCLE CHANGE / TIME
PHOTOSYNTHEIS
- governed by temperature
cold tundra = slow
hot rainforest = fast
- measured = net primary productivity
PLYOPLANKTON
- co2 levels increase = more photosynthesis = more plyoplankton blooms
- increased temp = less sea ice and more room for plyoplankton
CARBON CYCLE CHANGE / TIME
Precipitation
- precipitation + co2 = carbonic acid due to anthroprogenic carbon emissions
- increacing acidity in the ocen means more dissolved carbon = sruggling marnie life as they cant build shells as strong = when decomposition occours, less carbon into deep sea
CARBON CYCLE CHANGE / TIME
weathering
break down of rock in situ ( without movement ) occours due to acid rain = chemical weathering
- more acidic rainwater = faster reactions = biological weatering increases
CARBON CYCLE CHANGE / TIME
Combustion
human burning of foccil feuls = increacing co2 by 10GT/Year
neturally occours due to lightning
BIOSPHERE AS A CARBON STORE
rainforest
- very high net primary productivity @ 2500g/m2/year
- high temp all year round = decomposition and photosynthesis
= exchange of co2 between biosphere and atmosphere
BIOSPHERE AS A CARBON STORE
Tundra
- very seasonal with a 9 month winter = short days and low insulation = NPP of 200g/m2/year
- 1600GT stored in soil and frozen in permafrost
- biological active period of 3 months = top layer of permafrost thawed = photosynthesis and deposition can occour ( deposition not fully leading to peat soil )
ATMOSPHERE AS A CARBON STORE
- 0.04% co2
- anthopogenic activity increased co2 by 50% since industrial revolution
local scale = diernial = night = increased co2
global scale = seasonal chnage = n hemisphere summer = co2 dropes due to phososynthesis ( n hemisphgere = more land then s )
CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN OCEANS
physical pump
- co2 diffused into ocen = dissolved in solution
- ocean currents transport polewards eg: north atlantic
- dissolved carbon cools and sinks bc it smore dense DOWNWELLING
- remains fo centuries
- deep ocean currents causes UPWELLING meaning carbon diffuses into atmosphere = OUTGASSING
- upwelling in warmer environment sas warm waters cant hold as much co2
CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN OCEANS
biological pump
- co2 solution absorbed by photosynthetic material
- plyoplankton mixes co2 and calcium to form skeletons
- die and are either eaten or decompose to co2, or sink oto bottom in sedimentry rock
