EXAM 1 Flashcards
water storage and re-distribution on earth
a quantitative description of the ways in which water is temporarily stored and transported around the earth
the water cycle compartments
-atmosphere
-at the surface (runoff, lakes, etc)
-wetting vegetation
-within vegetation
-soils
-groundwater
the water cycle main processes
-transpiration-evaporation
-precipitation
-interception
-infiltration
-runoff
-sub-surface flow
-runoff
transpiration
transformation from liquid to gas phase into the atmosphere
percolation
flow from sub-surface into bedrock
sub-surface flow
flow through the soil, later incorporated into percolation, evapotranspiration, or into feeding rivers or lakes
runoff
channeled or unchanneled flow across the land
infiltration
from ground surface into the ground
interception
captured by foliage and typically evaporated
steps to solve a water budget problem
- what is your water budget question?
- draw a picture
- draw your schematic and identify compartment boundaries and processes
- build your equation
water budget problems practice
yay!!
unit practice problem
yay
precipitation
any form of water, such as rain, snow, sleet, hail, or freezing rain that falls to the earth’s surface
what causes precipitation
a local portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor causing water to condense
saturation
when air contains the maximum amount of water vapor that it can hold at a specific temperature and air pressure
how is saturation caused
cooling of air masses or changes in the water vapor content of air
adiabatic cooling
warm air rises due to lower density and expands due to lower pressures, this reduces the temperature of the air mass which may induce condensation
hyetograph
chart showing the distribution of rainfall during a given time period
precipitation over an area practice problems
yay
storage meaning
total volume retained that will not drain
transient storage
moving through vegetation, could drip off
conditional storage
could be dislodged depending on conditions (ex: winds)
residual storage
only can be removed by evaporation
canopy storage factors
-vegetation (type, density, form)
-precipitation event characteristics (duration, intensity, temporal distribution)
free throughfall
penetrates directly through gaps in the canopy
released throughfall
moves by dripping once storage is exceeded
stemflow
drainage of intercepted water down stems, branches, and tree trunks (effected by leaf, stems, and branches size)
interception equation
interception = precipitation - throughfall - stemflow
flux to soil equation
flux to soil = precipitation - canopy interception - litter
