EQ1: What are the processes operating within the hydrological cycle from a global to local scale?

Question 1

What is a store?

Answer 1

A reservoir where water is held e.g oceans

Question 2

What is a flux?

Answer 2

The rate of flow between stores

Question 3

What is the cryosphere?

Answer 3

Areas of the earth where water is frozen into snow or ice

Question 4

What is blue water?

Answer 4

Water stored in rivers, streams, lakes and groundwater in liquid form

Question 5

What is green water?

Answer 5

Water stored in the soil and vegetation

Question 6

What is residence time?

Answer 6

The average amount of time a water molecule will spend in a reservoir or store

Question 7

What is fossil water?

Answer 7

Ancient, deep groundwater from former wetter periods

Question 8

What is throughfall?

Answer 8

When rainfall persists or is intense and the water drops from leaves and twigs

Question 9

What is percolation?

Answer 9

A deep transfer of water from the surface or soil into the rocks below

Question 10

What are processes?

Answer 10

The physical mechanisms that drive the fluxes of water between the stores

Question 11

What is a system approach?

Answer 11

A way of studying natural processes by looking at the balance of inputs and outputs and how water is moved between stores and flows

Question 12

What is a closed system?

Answer 12

When there is a transfer of energy but no external inputs or outputs

Question 13

What is an open system?

Answer 13

It receives inputs and transfers of outputs of energy and matter to other systems

Question 14

What is a drainage basin and what are the main features?

Answer 14

An area of land drained by a river and its tributaries
-source
-confluence
-watershed
-tributary
-sea
-mouth
-main channel

Question 15

What is precipitation?

Answer 15

Ways moisture comes into the atmosphere

Question 16

What is surface run off?

Answer 16

Water flowing over land

Question 17

What is ground water flow?

Answer 17

Water stores in soil or rocks

Question 18

How does climate affect the drainage basin?

Answer 18

Influences the type and amount of precipitation overall and the amount of evaporation

Question 19

How does geology affect the drainage basin?

Answer 19

Determines the amount of infiltration, throughflow and vegetation

Question 20

How does soil affect the drainage basin?

Answer 20

Can impact the subsurface processes e.g groundwater flow and percolation

Question 21

How does relief affect the drainage basin?

Answer 21

Can impact the amount of precipitation, slopes can affect the amount of run off

Question 22

How does vegetation affect the drainage basin?

Answer 22

Major impact on the amount of interception, infiltration, overland flow and transpiration rates

Question 23

What is convectional rainfall?

Answer 23

The land becomes hot, air above it gets warmer so it expands and rises. The air cools and loses its ability to hold water vapour so condensation occurs and clouds form. As air continues to rise, rain falls
-common in tropical areas or UK summers

Question 24

What is cyclonic rainfall?

Answer 24

Lighter, less dense warm air is forced to rise over cold, denser air. As it rises the air cools and loses its ability to hold water vapour. Condensation occur where clouds and rain forms

Question 25

What is orographic rainfall?

Answer 25

Air is forced to rise over a barrier (e.g a mountain) where it cools and condenses to form rain
-the rain shadow effect is when the downwind slope receives little rain

Question 26

Amazon case study?

Answer 26

-20% of the forest has been destroyed
-Contains 60% of the world’s rainforests
-Land is used for cattle ranching, logging, large scale commercial agriculture
-Deforestation increases climate change and reduces evapotranspiration

Question 27

What is cloud seeding?

Answer 27

An artificial attempt to change the amount of precipitation by dispersing substances into the air as cloud condensation nuclei
-Example: used in Beijing in 2008 to clear the air of pollution for the Olympics

Question 28

What does dam construction do?

Answer 28

Increases surface water stores and evaporation and reduces downstream river discharge
-Example: Lake Nasser in Egypt has evaporation losses of 10-16 billion cubic metres every year

Question 29

What does deforestation do?

Answer 29

Leads to a reduction in evapotranspiration, increase in surface run off. This increases flooding and reduces lag time
-Example: Nepal has increased flood risks, increased sediment load and increased soil erosion

Question 30

What does afforestation do?

Answer 30

Planting additional trees to lengthen lag time
-takes a long time to have an impact

Question 31

What is groundwater abstraction?

Answer 31

Abstracting groundwater faster than it is replaced causing reduced groundwater flow

Question 32

What is a water budget?

Answer 32

The balance between inputs and outputs within the drainage basin

Question 33

What is the water budget equation?

Answer 33

Change in storage = precipitation (P) - (runoff (Q) + evapotranspiration (E)

Question 34

What is surplus?

Answer 34

When precipitation exceeds evaportranspiration and the excess is not used by plants

Question 35

What is deficiency?

Answer 35

When evaportranspiration exceeds precipitation, soil moisture stores have been used up and plants need adaptations to survive

Question 36

What is recharge?

Answer 36

Replacement of water lost from soil during drier periods

Question 37

What is soil moisture utilisation?

Answer 37

Soil water is being used by people and plants reducing the amount remaining in the soil and river channels

Question 38

What is field capacity?

Answer 38

The maximum amount of water soil can hold

Question 39

What is a river regime?

Answer 39

The annual variation in discharge of a river, measured at a particular point
-measured in cubic metres per second

Question 40

What affects a river regime?

Answer 40

-Human activities
-Size of river
-Precipitation
-Temperature
-Geology
-Vegetation

Question 41

What is a storm hydrograph?

Answer 41

A graph showing changes in the discharge of a river over a short period of time

Question 42

What is base flow?

Answer 42

The normal flow of a river when its water level is being sustained by groundwater flow

Question 43

Examples of stores:

Answer 43

-Ocean = 1,335,040 (in 10 cubed km cubed)
-Ice = 26,350 (in 10 cubed km cubed)
-Atmosphere = 12.7 (in 10 cubed km cubed)

Question 43

Examples of fluxes?

Answer 43

-Ocean evaporation = 413 (in 10 cubed km cubed per year)
-Ocean precipitation = 373 (in 10 cubed km cubed per year)
-Evaporation = 73 (in 10 cubed km cubed per year)