EQ1 the global hydrological cycle statistics

Question 1

what percentage of water on earth occurs as fresh water?

Answer 1

2.5%

Question 2

what percentage of this fresh water is accessible and where is the majority of the worlds fresh water located??

Answer 2

1% accessible

2/3 rds of world’s freshwater is locked up in the cryosphere

Question 3

TROPICAL RAINFORESTS HYDROLOGY

what % of precip. is consumed by dense vegetation and how much is l returned by evapotrans. ?

Answer 3

75% of precipitation

50-75% is returned by evapotrans.

Question 4

TROPICAL RAINFOREST HYDROLOGY

annual precipitation is how much?

Answer 4

2000 mm

Question 5

POLAR HYDROLOGY

what is the annual precipitation?

Answer 5

less than 200 mm

Question 6

where is most of the world’s water located and how much?

Answer 6

96.5% in the oceans

Question 7

what % of water is in the ice caps?

Answer 7

nearly 2%

Question 8

what water store has the longest residence time?

Answer 8

groundwater - 10,000 years

ice cap- 15,000 years depending on size

Question 9

DEFORESTATION IN AMAZON FOREST

Effects of deforestation in Amazon basin?

Answer 9

• Reduction of nearly around 324km^3 of river runoff by deforestation & human regulation of river flow
• reduction of vegetation = increased surface run off and less infiltration = higher river levels after rainfall
• drop in green water stores and increase in blue water stores
• conventional and frontal rainfall/ precipitation recycling is not able to occur due to decrease in evapotranspiration

Question 10

WATER ABSTRACTION IN THE ARAL SEA

What happened to the Aral Sea?

Answer 10

• Diversion of rivers that fed it = shrinking of sea by 10% in 1999 - splitting it into 4 lakes for Soviet irrigation projects
• By 2014 most of Aral Sea had dried up only the eastern basin remains