EQ1 water Flashcards
The global hydrological cycle is a …
a closed system
made up of a series of stores, fluxes, and processes.
Oceans contain how much % of world’s water?
97%
% of total water on Earth that is groundwater?
1.1%
What stores of water have the longest residence time?
Icecaps
Icecaps usual residence time?
15,000 years
what is a drainage basins?
drainage basin is an area of land drained by a river and its tributaries, and separated form neighbouring drainage basins by a ridge of of high land called a watershed.
Is a drainage basin a closed or open system?
open system
inputs?
only input into the system is
precipitation. Precipitation is any product of
the condensation of atmospheric water
vapour that falls under gravity.
what is orographic precipitation?
precipitation produced when moist air is lifted as it moves over a mountain range. As air rises and cools, orographic clouds form and serve as the source of the precipitation
Frontal precipitation?
Frontal precipitation is the result of lifting of lighter warm moist air over more dense cold air.
Convectional precipitation?
when energy of sun heats surface of Earth, causing water to evaporate to form water vapour. When land heats up, it warms air above it. Causes air to expand and rise…
Types of flows?
Interception infiltration surface run off saturated overland flow through flow percolation groundwater flow
types of outputs?
evaporation
transpiration
channel flow
Define cryosphere?
cryosphere is an all-encompassing term for those portions of Earth’s surface where water is in solid form
define percolation?
percolation refers to the movement and filtering of fluids through porous materials.
Physical factors affecting drainage basin?
Climate soils geology relief vegetation
How do humans disrupt the drainage basin cycle?
deforestation
urbanisation
water storage reservoirs
cloud seeding
case study example cloud seeding?
Beijing 2008 before the Olympics
urbanisation example effects?
urbanisation across UK has increased flood risk eg. Maidenhead 2014
groundwater abstraction constitutes what & of irrigation for China?
40%
% of drinking water in China that is groundwater?
70%
one example of humans disrupting drainage basin cycle?
Amazonia
what is a water budget?
water budget is the amount of water available in a
hydrological cycle. It reflects the inputs (precipitation)
and outputs (evapotranspiration) of a given area.
what is a river regime?
The annual variability of a river’s discharge.