GEOG220 Hydrology Flashcards
What happens when temperature increases (water, latent heat)?
Increased temp = more latent heat consumed, breaking down hydrogen bonds = availability for evapouration
How much radiation is re-emitted as longwave radiation?
15%
How much longwave radiation is converted into latent heat and sensible heat?
Latent Heat: 24%
Sensible Heat: 7%
Energy Balance Equation
Rn = LE + H + S
Rn (net radiation)
H (sensible heat)
LE (latent heat)
S (energy store/flux)
Sensible Heat vs Latent Heat
Sensible heat is the heat we can feel, latent heat is the energy used to break bonds between water molecules.
Arid Climate: Sensible v Latent Heat
Net radiation is converted into sensible heat, because water not available.
Humid Climate: Sensible v Latent Heat
Net radiation converted to latent heat for evap, because water is available.
Watershed
Area upstream of a point, known as catchment/basin/contributing area.
Pool
store of water (ocean, lake, ice, atmosphere, gw)
Flux
Way water moves between pools, like evaporation, precip, discharge, etc.
What is the main cooling mechanism?
Uplift!!!
Precipitation and Evaporation
Air temp controls the max amount of water vapor it can hold. Air cools (uplift) below dew point temperature = saturated = condensation = precip.
Water Balance Equation
P = Q + E + DeltaS
P = precip
Q = runoff
E = evap
DeltaS = chnage in storage
Precipitation
Flux of water from the atmosphere to the surface, in different forms (dew, mist, fog, rain).
Global Average Annual Precip
High over equator (where warm air holds more moisture) and low over poles/mid lat (cold air holds little moisture).
There are temporal variations (NZ has low variation, high supply).
Climate Controls on Aridity
Water vapour transports energy. Global circulation controls water availability.
Energy + water control aridity.
Energy + water high at equator, energy + water low near subtropical highs.
Saturated v Unsaturated Air
When air cools below its dew point = condensation.
If air unsaturated = evap (so long as there is energy to break bonds).
Effect is NON-LINEAR, getting stronger with warming air.
True of False, an air parcel can reach dew point temperature through warming and cooling
True, increase in temp = will reach dew point through warms. Decrease in temp = will reach dew point through cooling (like breathing out)
Convective Rainfall
Strong heating of land = air rise. Rising = gradual cooling = water vapour condenses. Produces heavy rain from quick rising.
short duration, intense. 30% of NZ rainfall.
Orographic Rainfall
Prevailing wind uplifted by topography. Rises, cools, dondenses, heavy precip on windward side.
Frontal/Cyclonic Rainfall
Precip caused by aur mass moving in.
Long duration. If cold front = more intense (displaces warm air and rapidly pushes it up to create intense precip).
What are the 3 types of rainfall?
Convective, Orographic, Frontal/Cyclonic.
Types of Precip Measurements
Direct, aerial, indirect.
Direct Rainfall Measurement (at a point)
Rain gauges
Little bucket, rain drops in, sensor tips, flicks switch. Flick switch frequency = amount of rainfall.
Aerial Rainfall Measurement
Array of rain gauges + interpolation
Thiessen polygons, inverse distance weighted, geospatial
Indirect Rainfall Measurement
Radar, remote sensing
Problems with Direct/At-a-point Rainfall Measurement
- Wind Turbulence
- Steep Terrain
- Forest Canopy
- Extreme Events
Wetting Loss
Water stays on funnel and can be lost to evap/not measured. To avoid, non-stick and steep funnels used.
Rain Splash
surface-level gauge is likely to over-measure the catch due to rain landing adjacent to the gauge - avoided by raising gauges.
What Increases Rainfall Measure Accuracy?
Number of gauges
Time Interval
Size of area
Thiessen Polygons
Polygons drawn by connecting nearest rain gauges to each other. Rainfall then spatially averaged.
Problematic sharp borders
Areal Rainfall
Weighted mean, using Thiessen polygons, where the weight is based on size of each polygon
Isohyetal Method
Lines of equal rainfall on map and calculates areas between, giving spatial average.
Considers environmental factors, but subjective if manual and time consuming
Inverse Distance Weighting Method
Rainfall interpolated from surrounding gauges, where closer gauges = more weight and further gauges = less weight.
Sensitive to weighting and size of study.
Water
Water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms bonded to a single oxygen via covalent bond (sharing of an electron from each atom). This is the strongest bond, making water a robust molecule - and is why it stays as water within our atmosphere.
Water molecule is bipolar, which means that there is a positive and negative side to the molecule, due to the repulsion and 105* angle between hydrogen atoms.
Evaporation
Loss of water from a wet surface through conversion into vapour.
Air temperature controls maximum amount of water vapour it can hold.
Evaporative demand when actual vapour pressure < saturation vapour pressure
Geographic Pattern of Potential ET
More solar radiation = warmer air, which can hold more water = greater water demand = greater PET (potential evapotranspiration)
Transpiration
Evaporation within leaves. Controls leaf temperature, nutrient delivery, and shares pathway for growth/photosynthesis (closes stoma under dry conditions to stop water loss).
Works with capillary action in plant, taking up water from soil and evaporating it from leaves at the stoma.
Factors Affecting Evapotranspiration
- Energy to supply latent heat of evaporation (net radiation, air temp)
- Capacity to transport vapour away from evaporative surface (wind, humidity such that vapour pressure deficit exists).
- Available water to supply evaporative demand (no water = no evap, controls how much AET meets PET)
Deep roots can increase available water (plants extracting from deeper, generally wetter soil).
Measurement: Evaporation Pan & Lysimeters
Pan: Scale/ruler put in large pan of water. Measured AET from pan, and PET from surrounding grass.
Lysimeter: isolate bucket of soil, measuring everything (weight, percolation, rainfall, etc) to determine evapotranspiration.
Bowen Ratio
Heat/sensible heat.
Where B > 1, Latent heat is higher than sensible heat = more evap
PET vs AET
Potential evapotranspiration: measure of ability of atmosphere to remove water
AET: quantity go water actually removed. Function of Potential Evapotranspiration and water availability.
Interception
Before reaching the ground, rain is caught by the vegetation and can be evaporated straight off.
Interception loss depends on:
Canopy structural factors
- Storage capactity/interception loss
- Drainage characteristics (stemflow)
- Aerodynamic roughness (turbulence)
Runoff
Movement of water to a channelized stream, after it has reached the ground as precipitation (not just overland, also through the soil).
Flow Pathways
- Channel and riparian precipitation
- Overland flow (infiltration excess, saturation excess, return flow)
- Throughflow/interflow
Baseflow
Overland Flow
Infiltration Excess, Saturation Excess, Return Flow
Infiltration Excess (overland flow)
Rainfall intensity exceeds infiltration capacity, so some rainfall must flow over the surface. Caused by intense rainfall, low permeability, or increasingly moist soil.
Infiltration rate > rainfall rate.
Saturation Excess (overland flow)
soil is/becomes saturated. Occurs where water percolates to a barrier, water table rises, water doesn’t have as far to percolate, and soil becomes fully saturated (water table meets surface).
Return flow (overland flow)
water is flowing underneath topsoil, but due to topography shape, water is pushed out into overland flow.
What moves water in soil?
Direction: gravity and pressure gradients
Rate: material permeability
Unsaturated soil water moves towards areas of greater suction (drier soil) and downwards (gravity). Field capacity = where these forces are in counterbalance.
Groundwater moves because of pressure and gravitational forces, from high to low pressure and downwards.
Throughflow/Interflow
Water infiltrates soil surface, moving laterally through unsaturated zone to stream. Slower than overland flow but faster than groundwater.
More rapid flow through preferential paths (macropores and horizon boundaries).