Global Distribution And Size Of Major Stores Of Water

Question 1

How much water on Earth does the Lithosphere store?

Answer 1

1.7%

Question 2

How much water on Earth does the Hydrosphere store?

Answer 2

96.5% (largest water store)

Question 3

How much water on Earth does the Cryosphere store?

Answer 3

1.7%

Question 4

How much water on Earth does the Atmosphere store?

Answer 4

0.001% (smallest water store)

Question 5

How is water cycled between stores?

Answer 5

Processes such as evaporation and precipitation

Question 6

Describe Lithosphere Store

Answer 6

• Level of storage is low (1.7%)
• Stores water for longest period of time
• Water can flow through the lithosphere into underground aquifers (but transfer can be slow - taking years)
• Water stored in bedding planes, joints and pores in rocks - and can remain for hundreds of years

Question 7

Describe Hydrosphere Store

Answer 7

• Largest Store of water
• Processes impacting the store include runoff and precipitation (inputs into Store) and evaporation (outputs wafer from ocean to atmosphere)
• These processes have minimal impact on storage capacity, but long-term climatic change events (e.g. Ice ages) have a potential to lower storage capacity significantly

Question 8

Describe Cryosphere Store

Answer 8

• Processes impacting store include precipitation as snow (input), ice melting (output)
• Major stores include: Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, polar sea ice, and mountain glaciers
• Annual changes to ice coverage have minimal impact on storage capacity, but long-term climatic change events (e.g. Ice ages) increases cryospheric storage and during warmer-interglacial periods the storage decreases

Question 9

Describe Atmosphere Store

Answer 9

• Water is removed from water surfaces through evaporation (inputting water into Atmosphere)
• Water is temporarily stored as water vapour and condensation before being released back to earth as precipitation (output water from Atmosphere)
• Transpiration from plants releases water vapour into Atmosphere

Question 10

Where is water stored in the Lithosphere?

Answer 10

Oceanic crust = stored within rock
Continental crust = stores in rocks, minerals, clay and groundwater

(Lithosphere is land = solid outer crust and upper mantle)

Question 11

Where is water stored in the Hydrosphere?

Answer 11

Stored as oceans, seas, rivers, streams, lakes and ponds

Question 12

Where is water stored in the Cryosphere?

Answer 12

Stored as glaciers, ice sheets, frozen sections of oceans (e.g around the Antarctic), ice caps

Question 13

Where is water stored in the Atmosphere?

Answer 13

Stored as clouds, clear air and microscopic particles of water vapour

Question 14

How do the size of global stores change?

Answer 14

Hydrosphere:

• Short-term: limited change in volume
• Long-term: large change in volume e.g. By ice ages decreasing water in Hydrosphere and increases water in Cryosphere. Increases in warm climatic conditions e.g global warming as Cryosphere melts

Cryosphere:

• Short-term: annual temperature changes have little change in volume
• Long-term: Hot climate = Cryosphere decreases, increase Hydrosphere. Cold climate = Cryosphere increases, decreases Hydrosphere.

Lithosphere and Atmosphere stores do not change

Question 15

Length water remains in the groundwater:deep store (lithosphere), and why?

Answer 15

10,000 years

• Long Store as deep groundwater is hard to extract, as water is essentially “trapped”
• groundwater flow is a slow process as it takes a long time to reach rivers

Question 16

Length water remains in the groundwater:shallow store (lithosphere), and why?

Answer 16

100-200 years
- Long Store as water is “trapped”. Groundwater flow is a slow process, which can be influenced by geology of rocks (e.g more impermeable rocks = slower flow)

Question 17

Length water remains in lakes storage (hydrosphere), and why?

Answer 17

50-100 years

• Long Store as a lake is a basin with water
• lakes do not flow so water remains in lakes for a long time (only relies on evaporation)

Question 18

Length water remains in glacier storage (cryosphere), and why?

Answer 18

20-100 years

• long Store as glaciers are usually in cold climates
• so sublimation and melting of ice are less likely to occur

Question 19

Length water remains in seasonal snow cover storage (cryosphere), and why?

Answer 19

2-6 months

• Short storage as there is an increase in temperature during the summer, which increases melting of snow = changes into water (increasing hydrosphere)
• this water is likely to flow into rivers or evaporate into water vapour

Question 20

Length water remains in rivers (hydrosphere), and why?

Answer 20

2-6 months

- Short Store as water is transferred into oceans and can be easily evaporated into the Atmosphere

Question 21

Length water remains in soil water storage (lithosphere), and why?

Answer 21

1-2 months
- Shortest Store as water is quickly soaked into the underlying soil and transpired by plants. Soil water then flows into rivers and lakes. Also water in soil can infiltrate into the rock below