lecture 1: Fundamentals of water 4

Question 1

STORES: Atmospheric storage

Answer 1

Equivalent of 11mm of rainfall across the globe
Highly spatio-temporally variable
Involved in the altitudinal and meridional (north-south) transfer of energy (as latent heat)
Reflects solar radiation back to space – global cooling

Question 2

R’ship between cloud cover and forest cover

Answer 2

There is a strong relationship
between cloud cover and forest
cover.

Clouds are important because they reduce the solar loads and bring rainfall.

COSTA RICA Diurnality of cloud cover: much of the solar day extremely
cloudy on Atlantic slopes. Much light lost as a result

Question 3

Canopy water interception and storage

Answer 3

• Captures rainfall
• Redistributes it in space → concentration
• Redistributes it in time → reduced intensity
• Interception loss = 10-20% of rainfall
• Remaining 80-90% is effective rainfall
• Leads to efficient ET and thus rainfall recycling (20% in Amazon)

Question 4

Surface water detention in lakes and reservoirs

Answer 4

Lakes cover 2-2.4% of land
Wetlands cover 6.2-7.6% of land
Important for aquatic fisheries
Lakes →  water supply
Wetlands → water quality filtration