Lesson 1 - Global Hydrological Cycle Flashcards
What is the hydrological cycle?
A Closed system. The transfer of water around the planet, it has stores inputs and fluxes.
What is the cryosphere?
Places on earth that are so cold that water is frozen solid.
What are the 3 inputs in the hydrological cycle?
precipitation, snow and hail
What are the 2 outputs in the hydrological cycle?
evaporation and transportation
What are the 5 stores in the hydrological cycle?
oceans, ground water, ice caps, soil moisture and atmospheric moisture
What is an open system?
Receives inputs from and transfers outputs of energy and matter to other systems
What is a closed system?
Occurs when there is a transfer of energy but not matter between the system and the surroundings.
What does solar energy have to do with the hydrological system?
Water is heated by the sun then evaporated into the atmosphere from the surface and drawn up through soil by plants and evaporated though leaves by evapotranspiration
What does gravitational potential energy have to do with the water cycle?
This energy is converted into kinetic energy as the water moves through the system by plant interception or over land by surface run of. Water also flows through the soil by the processes of infiltration and through flow.
What is a flux?
The rate of flow between stores
What is percolation?
Water seeps into the ground through gaps between rocks
What is permafrost?
Frozen for a long time
Why is the water cycle a closed system?
Amount of water never changes
All water is constantly circulated through stores
no losses/gains
Stores that contain the most to least? (6)
ocean ice caps ground water river soil moisture atmospheric moisture
Where is the flux the greatest?
ocean-atmosphere
Why is the land ocean flux important?
more water is evaporated from oceans than falls on them as more water falls as precipitation on to the land than is evaporated. The balance is made up by river run off. If this didn’t happen land would dry up and oceans would gain all the water.
What is the flux times of the atmosphere and the ocean?
Flux of water through the atmosphere is 3.5X larger than the amount held in the atmosphere as the residence time is very short. The ocean flux is opposite to this.
what does the global water budget do?
limits the amount of water available for us to use. With different residence times
What do global water budgets show?
the annual balance between inputs and outputs and their impact on soil water availability and are influenced by climate type.
