OCR A Level ELSS - 4. OCR A Level ELSS 4.1a Water and Carbon facts Flashcards
In what units are atmospheric, land and ocean stores of water given?
000’s of km³ or km³ x 10³
In what units are flows of water within the global water cycle measured?
000’s km³/year
How much water is found in the ocean store at any given time?
1,370,000,000 km³
How much water is found in the atmosphere at any given time?
13,000 km³
How much water is found on land at any given time?
39,000,000 km³
What percentage of global water is found in the atmosphere (give your answer to 3 dp)?
0.00%
To the nearest whole number, what percentage of global water is stored in oceans?
97%
How much precipitation falls on land in a year?
111,000 km³
How much water evapotransires from land back to the atmosphere every year?
71,000 km³
How much water enters oceans as run off or groundwater flow every year?
40,000 km³
What volume of water is stored on land in reservoirs of polar ice and glaciers?
29,000,000 km³
What volume of water is stored in aquifer reservoirs?
9,500,000 km³
What volume of water is stored in soil reservoirs?
65,000 km³
How much water evaporates from the sea every year?
425,000 km³
What does the USGS estimate the annual water cycle budget to be?
505,000 km³
What is the unit used to measure stores of carbon?
Gigatonnes (1 billion tonnes)
What is the term for the average length of time carbon remains in each store?
Residence time
How much carbon is in the atmosphere at any given time?
600 Gt
How long on average does it stay there?
6 years
How much carbon is stored in terrestrial biomass?
560 Gt
On average how long does it stay there?
18 years
How much carbon is found in soil?
2300 Gt
How much carbon is found in sea floor sediments?
6000 Gt
How much carbon is found in sedimentary rocks?
60,000,000 - 100,000,000 Gt
How long on average does carbon stay in deep oceans?
1250 years
How long on average does carbon stay in surface oceans?
25 years
On average, how long does carbon stay in sedimentary rocks?
150 million years
How much carbon is trapped in fossil fuels?
4130 Gt
What is the estimate for how much carbon is circulated in the slow cycle?
10 - 100 million tonnes a year
How much faster is the fast carbon cycle than the slow carbon cycle?
10 - 1000 times
How much carbon is stored in the deep oceans?
38,000 Gt
How much carbon is stored in the surface oceans?
700 Gt
At what rate does terrestrial carbon enter the atmosphere by respiration and decomposition?
60 Gt/year
At what rate is carbon absorbed from the atmosphere into the oceans?
92 Gt/year
At what rate is carbon released from oceans to the atmosphere?
90 Gt/Year
What is the average length of time a water molecule spends in the atmosphere?
9 days
