Stores of Water Flashcards
1
Q
Atmospheric water
A
Water found in the atmosphere
2
Q
How does water tend to be found in the atmosphere?
A
Water vapour
Liquid (cloud and rain droplets)
Ice crystals
3
Q
Cryospheric water
A
Water locked up in the Earth’s surface as ice.
4
Q
Hydrosphere
A
A discontinuous layer of water at or near the Earth’s surface.
5
Q
What does the hydrosphere include?
A
Liquid and frozen surface waters, groundwater held in soil or rocks and atmospheric water.
6
Q
Oceanic water
A
Water contained in the Earth’s oceans and seas BUT not including inland seas.
7
Q
Terrestrial water
A
Groundwater, soil moisture, lakes, wetlands and rivers.
8
Q
What percentage of water is freshwater?
A
3%
9
Q
What percentage of water is stored in oceans?
A
97%
10
Q
What percentage of easily accessible fresh surface water in found in lakes?
A
52%
11
Q
For what percentage of the total water does atmospheric water account for?
A
0.4% of all water
12
Q
How much of the planet’s surface do the oceans cover?
A
`72%
13
Q
Why does oceanic water taste salty?
A
It contains dissolved salts.
14
Q
What do the salts present in oceanic water allow it to do?
A
Stay as a liquid below 0 degrees C.
15
Q
Are oceans acidic or alkaline?
A
Alkaline
16
Q
What pH is oceanic water?
A
8.14
17
Q
What was the pH of oceanic water 250 years ago?
A
8.25
18
Q
Why has the pH of oceanic water decreased?
A
Due to the increase in atmospheric carbon.
19
Q
What could the decrease in pH in oceans lead to?
A
Problems for marine ecosystems.
20
Q
Where are the 5 locations of cryospheric water?
A
Sea ice Ice caps Ice sheets Alpine glaciers Permafrost
21
Q
Give an example of sea ice
A
Ross ice shelf, Antarctica
22
Q
Give an example of an ice cap
A
Iceland ice cap
23
Q
Give an example of an ice sheet
A
Greenland ice sheer
24
Q
Give an example of an alpine glacier
A
Mer de Glace, France
25
Give an example of permafrost
Alaska North Slope
26
How does sea ice form?
Water in the oceans is cooled to temperatures below freezing.
27
Why does sea ice not raise sea level when it melts?
It was formed from ocean water in the first place
28
What are ice shelves?
Platforms of ice that form where ice sheets and glaciers move out into the oceans.
29
Where do ice shelves mainly exist?
In Antarctica and Greenland but also in the Arctic near Canada and Alaska
30
What are icebergs?
Chunks of ice that break off glaciers and ice shelves and drift in oceans.
31
When do icebergs raise sea level?
When they leave the land.
32
Do icebergs raise sea level when they melt in the sea?
No
33
What are ice sheets?
A mass of glacial land extending more than 50,000 km2.
34
Where are the two major ice sheets?
Greenland and Antarctica
35
Where did ice sheets cover during the last ice age?
Greenland, Antarctica, North America, northern Europe and Argentina
36
What percentage of freshwater ice is held in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets?
99%
37
How far does the Antarctic Ice Sheet extend?
14million km2
38
How much ice does the Antarctic Ice Sheet contain?
30million km3
39
How far does the Greenland Ice Sheet extend?
1.7million km2
40
Where do ice sheets form?
In areas where the snow that falls over the winter does not melt entirely in the summer.
41
What are ice sheets constantly doing?
Moving downhill under their own weight.
42
Where does the ice sheet move when it is near the coast?
Through relatively fast-moving outlets called ice streams.
43
How big can ice streams be in the Antarctic?
Up to 50km wide, 2km thick and hundreds of km long.
44
What does an ice sheet need to do in order to remain stable?
Accumulate the same mass of snow as it loses to the sea.
45
By how many metres would sea levels rise if the Greenland Ice Sheet melted?
6m
46
By how many metres would sea levels rise if the Antarctic Ice Sheet melted?
60m
47
What are ice caps?
Thick layers of ice on land that are smaller than 50,000km2
48
Where are ice caps usually found?
In mountainous areas
49
What shape are ice caps?
Dome shaped
50
Where are ice caps centres?
Over the highest points of an upland area.
51
In which direction do ice caps flow?
Outwards, covering everything in their path.
52
What are ice caps a major source for?
Glaciers
53
What is Africa's only ice cap?
The Furtwangler Glacier on Kilimanjaro
54
How big is the Furtwangler Glacier?
60,000m2
55
What is happening to the Furtwangler Glacier?
It is melting rapidly and may soon disappear
56
What are alpine glaciers?
Thick masses of ice found in deep valleys or upland hollows.
57
What are valley glaciers fed by?
Ice from ice caps or smaller corrie glaciers.
58
Where are alpine glaciers particularly important?
In the Himalayas.
59
How many Himalayan glaciers form a unique reservoir?
15,000
60
What does the unique reservoir in the Himalayas support?
Perennial rivers
61
Name 3 perennial rivers that the Himalayas support and explain why they are important
Indus
Ganges
Brahmaputra
These rivers support millions of people in South Asian countries.
62
What is permafrost?
Ground that remains at below 0 degrees Celsius for at least 2 consecutive years.
63
How does the thickness of permafrost vary?
From less than one metre to more than 1,500m
64
When did most of the permafrost present today form?
During cold glacial periods and has persisted through warmer interglacial periods.
65
When was the Holocene?
The last 10,000 years and is still on going.
66
What is the Holocene?
The current interglacial period.
67
When did some relatively shallow permafrost form?
During the second part of the Holocene (last 6000 years) and during the Little Ice Age (400-150 years ago).
68
Where does subsea permafrost occur?
On what were exposed glacial landscapes when sea levels were lower.
69
Where can permafrost be found?
Beneath ice-free regions of the Antarctic continent and where the ice sheet is frozen to its bed.
70
What is happening to the permafrost?
It is starting to melt.
71
What is a problem caused by the permafrost melting?
Lots of carbon dioxide and methane is being released.
72
What are the 4 types of terrestrial water?
Surface water
Groundwater
Soil water
Biological water
73
What is surface water?
The free-flowing water of rivers as well as the water of ponds and lakes.
74
Name 3 types of surface water
Rivers
Lakes
Wetlands
75
What can rivers act as?
Both a store and a transfer of water.
76
Where do rivers transfer water to?
From the ground, soils and the atmosphere to a store.
77
What stores do rivers transfer water to?
Wetlands, lakes and oceans
78
What percentage of all water do rivers account for?
0.0002%
79
What river is the largest river by discharge?
The Amazon
80
How much discharge does the Amazon produce?
209,000m3/s
81
What is the size of the area that the Amazon drains?
7,050,000 km2
82
What proportion of the world's total river flow does the Amazon account for?
1/5
83
Which river has the largest drainage basin?
The Amazon
84
What are lakes?
Collections of fresh water found in hollows on the land surface.
85
What is the size requirement for a body of water to be classed as a lake?
Greater than 2 hectares in area
86
What is a body of water less than 2 hectares in area known as?
A pond
87
Where can the majority of lakes be found?
In the Northern Hemisphere at higher latitudes.
88
How many lakes does Canada have that are larger than 3km2?
31,752
89
What is the largest lake?
The Caspian Sea
90
How big is the Caspian Sea?
78,200km2
91
What is the Caspian Sea?
An ancient ocean
92
How old is the Caspian Sea?
5.5 million years old
93
What type of water is in the Caspian Sea?
Generally freshwater but becomes more saline in the south where there are fewer rivers.
94
What is the deepest lake in the world?
Lake Biakal
95
Where is Lake Biakal?
Siberia
96
What is the deepest point of Lake Biakal?
1,637m
97
What does the Ramsar Convention define wetlands as?
"Areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water whether natural, artificial, permanent or temporary with water that is static or flowing where there is a dominance of vegetation."
98
What does water saturation at wetlands determine?
How the vegetation develops and the types of plants and animals that live in and on the soil.
99
What type of species do wetlands support?
Both aquatic and terrestrial species
100
Why do wetlands vary? 7
```
Regional and local differences in soil
Topography
Climate
Hydrology
Water chemistry
Vegetation
Human disturbance
```
101
On which continent can wetlands not be found?
Antarctica
102
Which wetland is referred to as the world's largest freshwater wetland system?
The Pantanal of South America
103
What are some of the benefits of the Pantanal?
```
Water purification
Groundwater discharge and recharge
Climate stabilisation
Water supply
Flood abatement
Transport system
```
104
Where are wetlands the main ecosystem?
The Arctic
105
How much of the Arctic is covered by wetlands?
60%
106
What do Arctic wetlands store?
Large amounts of greenhouse gases
107
What is groundwater?
Water that collects underground in the pore spaces of rock.
108
What is the lower level depth of groundwater set by scientists and what should be noted about this?
4000m but there are large quantities of water below that.
109
Where is there a very deep borehole?
Kola Peninsula, Northern Russia
110
What can be found at the Kola Peninsula?
Hot mineralised water
111
How deep is the hot mineralised water at the Kola Peninsula?
13km
112
What is the water table?
The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rocks become completely saturated with water.
113
Where is groundwater recharged from?
The water table
114
Where does groundwater eventually flow to?
The surface
115
Where does natural discharge often occur?
At springs and seeps
116
What can groundwater form?
Oases and wetlands
117
Why is the amount of groundwater reducing rapidly?
Due to extraction for the irrigation of agricultural land in dry areas.
118
What is soil water?
Water that is held together with air in unsaturated upper weathered layers of the Earth.
119
What is soil water fundamental to?
Many hydrological, biological and biogeochemical processes.
120
What does soil water affect? 6
```
Weather and climate
Run-off potential and flood control
Soil erosion and slope failure
Reservoir management
Geotechnical engineering
Water quality
```
121
What is a key variable in controlling the amount of evaporation and transpiration?
Soil moisture
122
What does soil moisture play a big part in?
Weather patterns and the production of precipitation
123
What is biological water?
Water stored in all biomass
124
What does biological water vary upon?
Vegetation cover and type
125
Where do trees store their water?
In the trunk or branches
126
How do plants and trees lose water?
Through transpiration from the stomata in leaves
127
What does biological water storage provide a reservoir of?
Water that helps maintain some climatic environments.
128
What happens to the climate if vegetation is destroyed?
The water is lost to the atmosphere and the climate becomes more desert-like.
129
What are cacti adapted to do?
Gather water through their extensive root system and store it in large quantities for a long time.
130
Why does the baobab tree store water?
To strengthen its structure.
131
What is the most common form of atmospheric water?
Water vapour
132
Why is atmospheric water vapour important?
It absorbs, reflects and scatters incoming solar radiation, keeping the atmosphere at a suitable temperature.
133
What does the amount of water vapour in the air depend upon?
The temperature
134
What air temperature is best for holding water vapour?
Warm air can hold more water vapour
135
What would a small increase in the amount of atmospheric water vapour lead to? What is this an example of?
An increase in temperature
| Positive feedback
136
What is cloud?
A visible mass of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere.
137
What is cloud formation a result of?
Air in the lower layers of the atmosphere becoming saturated.
138
Why does the air in the lower layers of the atmosphere become saturated?
Either due to the cooling of air or increase in water vapour
139
What happens when cloud droplets grow?
They can eventually fall as rain.
