Introduction and global water cycle

Question 1

What is hydrology

Answer 1

the study of the waters of the earth

Question 2

What hydrology describes

Answer 2

• water transitions between solid, liquid and vapour forms
• water origins and destinations
• availability and distribution of water
• utilisation of water
• interaction of water with the physical, biological and human environment

Question 3

Community welfare

Answer 3

• water supple, flood protection, drainage, power generation, navigation etc.

Question 4

3 major features of the global hydrological cycle

Answer 4

• the oceans lose more water by evaporation than they gain by precipitation
• the land surfaces receive more water as precipitation than they lose by ET
• the excess of water on the land returns to the oceans as runoff, balancing the deficit in the ocean-atmosphere exchange

Question 5

The global ocean

Answer 5

• largest source of water
• major heat store (important buffer to climate change)
• major heat conveyor belt
• receive 79% of global precipitation & contribute 88% of global ET

Question 6

Water balance

Answer 6

input (precipitation) - storage (groundwater, lakes, glaciers, swamps, soils) - output (runoff, calving, evaporation)

Question 7

Diversion of water resources

Answer 7

• To divert water from the southern region of China to the dryer north.
• To spur economic growth and stability in the more populous northern area, where the per capita share of regional water has declined to near-crisis levels.
• extensive system of tunnels, dams, reservoirs and canals, all connecting and diverting water from China’s largest rivers – including the Yangtze, Yellow and Hai River.
• At its peak capacity, the entire system can move nearly