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Geography > Hydrological Cycle > Flashcards

Hydrological Cycle Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the meteorological causes of flooding?

A

Much flooding in the UK is the result of mid-lattitude deopressions forming from low air pressure.
These usually bring showers on the warm from and rain on the cold front.
When rain is prolonged, the ground becomes saturated which causes more surface run-off
once the channel capacity is exceeded, water will break the banks and flow onto the floodplain

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2
Q

What are the physical causes of flooding?

A

Flash floods
Monsoons
Rock type
Soil saturation
Tributaries
Slope
Snowmelt

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3
Q

What is flash flooding?

A

a flood with an exceptionally short lag time- often minutes or hours

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4
Q

What is groundwater flooding?

A

flooding that occurs after the ground has become saturated from prolonged heavy rainfall

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5
Q

What is surface water flooding?

A

flooding that occurs when intense rainfall has insufficent time to infiltrate the soil, so flows overland

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6
Q

What is resistance time?

A

the amount of time a particle stays in a store

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7
Q

What is flow rate?

A

speed at which a particle moves from one store to another

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8
Q

CASE STUDY
What are some key fact of the 2015 Storm Desmond?

A

6ft of water
Roads washed away and buldings submerged
Army dropped off water and nearby villiages bought food
Flood defences were built after the 2009 flood but the didnt work

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9
Q

CASE STUDY
What are some of the social consequences of Storm Desmond?

A

5200 homes flooded
20,000 people had to live in temporary accomodation
Local services were forced to close

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10
Q

CASE STUDY
What are some of the environmental consequences of Storm Desmond?

A

Rivers polluted with sewage
Many riverbanks were eroded, adding to future flood risks

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11
Q

CASE STUDY
What are some of the economic consequences of Storm Desmond?

A

The cost of the damage was £450m
Insurance claims by flooding across the UK were £6bn in 2015

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12
Q

What are the human causes of flooding?

A

Channel straightening
Building on floodplains
Impermeable grounf
Dams built to supply towns with water
Streams channeled into culverts to aid rapid drainage of farmland
Grazing animals trample soil
Plouging compacts soil
Dredging rivers
Deforestation

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13
Q

CASE STUDY
What are some key facts of the Boscastle 2004 flood?

A

Helicopters worked for 3hres, rescuing 120 people
£250,000 in damage
River level had risen by 7ft in one hour
The villiage was built on a floodplain
2 million tons of water flower through
Saturation of bedrock from previous rain resulted in the sandstone behaving as if it was impermeable

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14
Q

What is a drought?

A

An extended period- a season, a year or several years- of deficient rainfall relative to the statistical malti-year average

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15
Q

What is a meteorological drought?

A

Happens where long-term precipitation is lower than normal. It changes for different regions as it is affected by the atmspheric conditions

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16
Q

What is an agricultural drought?

A

Happens when there is not enough soil moisture to allow enough crops to grow. It is caused by precipotation shortages, changes in rates of evapotranspiration and reduced groundwater levels

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17
Q

What is a hydrological drought?

A

Happens when the amount of surface and surface water is defficient. It is caused by a lack of precipitation and usually occurs after meteorological and agricultural drought

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18
Q

What is a socio-economic drought?

A

Occurs when water demand outstrips the water avaliability. This could be caused by a lock of precipitation or by human overuse of sources of water

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19
Q

What is the best indicator of drought and how does it work?

A

Palmer drought severity index. The higher the number the less severe it is

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20
Q

What is ecosystem resilience?

A

The ability of an ecosystem to respond to a disruption of normal function and recover quickly

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21
Q

CASE STUDY: California (drought)
What are the human contributions of drought?

A

Population of 40 million meaning that there are human pressures on water supplies
Climate change
Huge industry of agriculture meaning that there is high demand for irrigation

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22
Q

CASE STUDY: California (drought)
What are the physical contributions of drought?

A

Has mountains which affect rainfall
Towards the eastern border is the Arizonian Desert

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23
Q

CASE STUDY: California (drought)
What is the evidence for the drought?

A

2007- Californian fires were due to the Santa Ana winds blowing out from the Great Plains
2007- was set to become the driest year on record- only 25% average rainfall

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24
Q

CASE STUDY: Horn of Africa
What are the human contributions of drought?

A

Deforestation
Overgrazing
Urbanisation
Climate change
Lack of disaster resilience

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25
Q

CASE STUDY: Horn of Africa
What are the physical contributions of drought?

A

Changing weather patterns
Lack of rainfall

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26
Q

CASE STUDY: Horn of Africa
What is the evidence for the drought?

A

5 years of low rainfall
2006- 3 months of intense rainfall
Population double in previous 30 years- expected to increase by 40% by 2059
85,000 people evacuated due to transport links

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27
Q

What are some of the causes of flooding?

A

Long or heavy periods of rainfall
Impermeable soil & rock
Saturated soils

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28
Q

why are wetlands important ecosystems?

A

Mitigate against flood risk
Recharge aquifers
High biological productivity
Protect land from erosion
Act like water filters
Provide fish and fuelwood

29
Q

Why are forests important ecosystems?

A

Second largest store of carbon
2 billion people rely on forests for food, medicine, firewood, etc
TRFs produce 28% of oxygen
Provide food, shelter, and fuel
Home to 80% of terrestrial biodiversity

30
Q

What are the ways drought can affect wetlands?

A

water availability- water table lowers and dries out wetlands
water quality- water=more concentrated=decreases water quality
Habitat loss- species forced to migrate
Altered nutrient cycling- reduction in water flow=lower exchange of nutrients with surrounding areas

31
Q

What are the ways that drought can affect forests?

A

Reduced soil moisture- plants cant obtain water
Increased fire risk- dry conditions=easier for forest fires to start and spread
Altered tree growth- slows down
Changing in species composition- species cannot adapt and could face extinction
Impact on wildlife- species may experience a change in distribution

32
Q

High pressure

A

when air sinks- has drier conditions

33
Q

Low pressure

A

when air rises- has wetter conditions

34
Q

What is a ‘normal year’?

A

there are droughts in South America and floods in Australia

35
Q

What is a La Nina year’?

A

an enhanced ‘normal year’

36
Q

What is an ‘El Nino year’?

A

there are floods in South America and droughts in Australia

37
Q

What percentage of the earth is water?

A

70%

38
Q

Transpiration

A

Evaporation that occurs off of leaves

39
Q

Percolation

A

Waters moving down due to gravity through rocks beneath (slowly)

40
Q

Surface run off

A

Water flowing along an impermeable surface

41
Q

Absorption

A

Water absorbed by plants and vegetation

42
Q

What drives the water cycle?

A

-Solar input
-Gravitational forces

43
Q

What is the importance of solar input in the water cycle?

A

-solar energy drives the cycle by evaporating water
-Latent heating=the energy required to change a substance to a higher state of matter. This same energy is released from the substance when the change of state is reversed

44
Q

What is the importance of gravitational force in the water cycle?

A
  • precipitation
  • infiltration
  • percolation
  • surface run off
  • on the land, gravitational potential energy is converted into kinetic energy as the water moves through the system by interception, surface run off, etc
45
Q

Blue water

A

Water that is stored in rivers, streams, lakes, and groundwater in liquid form (visible)

46
Q

Green water

A

Water stored in the soil and vegetation (invisible)

47
Q

What type of system in the hydrological cycle?

A

Closed system

48
Q

What type of system is a drainage basin?

A

Open system- it has inputs, transfers, stored and outputs

49
Q

What is needed for precipitation formation?

A
  • water vapour provided by evaporation and evapo-transpiration
  • air cooled to attraction point with relative humidity at 100%
  • condensation of nuclei to facilitate the growth of droplets in clouds
  • temperature below dew point
50
Q

Relief rainfall

A
  • warm air rises and cools
  • important to create ecosystems
  1. Moisture comes from the ocean
  2. Mountains do not allow rain clouds to pass over as the altitude it too high
  3. The cloud rains on one side of the mountain
  4. When it reaches the other side of the mountain it doesn’t rain that much
51
Q

Conventional rainfall

A
  • air is lifted and cooled
  • clouds are formed which leads to rain
  • happens in low pressure areas
52
Q

Frontal rainfall

A
  • boundary between the cold and warm fronts
  • water vapour in warm air is condensed and then rains due to the cold air
  • warm air wedges into the cold air
  • leading front- warm front- warm air behind it
  • second front- cold front- cold air behind it
53
Q

How can precipitation affect the drainage basin?

A
  • amount of precipitation
    -types of precipitation
    -seasons
54
Q

Physical factors that can affect the drainage basin

A
  • geology
  • vegetation
  • climate
  • soils
55
Q

Human factors that will affect the drainage basin

A
  • deforestation/afforestation
  • creation of reservoirs and other large surface storage areas
  • changing land use (i.e. forests to farming)
56
Q

What are the physical factors that can impact infiltration?

A
  • soil porosity
  • slope angle
  • vegetation cover
  • soil oisture
  • duration of rainfall
57
Q

What are the human factors within a adrainage basin?

A
  1. dams- control the amount of water that goes through. They can affect a drainage basin as they slow channel flo, change biodiversity, and increase the amount of time that the river is a store
  2. agriculture/farming- compact soil=harder to infiltrate so there will be more surface run-off
  3. deforestation- less interception so the soil will be saturated faster as infiltration happens quicker so there is more surface run off
  4. cattle farming- cows compact soil, eat vegetation meaning that there is less interception and absorption
58
Q

Water budget

A

the balance between precipitation, evaporation and run off

59
Q

Water balance equation

A

drainage basin discharge = precipitation - evaporation +/- run off

60
Q

Evapotranspiration

A

Combined effect of evaporation and transpiration. very important as it can remove 100% of annual precipitation in arid and semi-arid areas

61
Q

potential evapotranspiration

A

The amount of water lost if there was constant/unlimited supply of water in the soil

62
Q

Soil moisture recharge

A

When precipitation is greater than evapotranspiration the pores of the soil are refilled with water

63
Q

Soil moisture surplus

A

When the soil becomes saturated, excess water will run over the surface as surface run off

64
Q

Soil moisture utilisation

A

When evapotranspiration is greater than precipitation, there is a reduction in the amount of water stored with the soil. The amounted water stored in the soil is also being reduced because some of the water is being transferred as throughflow to the river.

65
Q

Soil moisture deficit

A

Eventually all the avaliable water stored in the soil will have been used up

66
Q

River regime

A

the annual variation in discharge measured in cumecs

67
Q

Water scarcity

A

An imbalance between demand and supply

68
Q

physical scarcity

A

Geography (1 decks)

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