The Hydrosphere Flashcards
What is the hydrosphere?
If the earth’s outer later of water.
What does the hydrosphere do?
It unites water in all the different states, (solid, liquid, and gas/vapour).
What’s a catchment area?
An area of land where the lakes and rivers all empty in the same “pool of water”.
What are the different types of water a catchment area will catch?
- Rain
- Surface water
- Ground water
What’s the watershed area?
It’s the area that’s formed by land which will make the water flow down the slopes. GRAVITY
What’s a human disturbance in watersheds?
The creation of a reservoir upstream from a hydroelectric power plant.
What’s the issue with contaminants up streak the basin?
It can spread anywhere down stream.
How do oceans regulate climate?
By standardizing the temperature of the earth, (due to their ability to absorb heat).
What do the oceans vary in? (Name 2 things)
- Temperature
2. Salinity
What 3 factors influence water temperature?
- The seasons
- The latitude, (closer to the equator)
- The depth, (deeper->cooler->due to less sun)
What does ocean salinity have to do with?
Salt.
Where are the oceans less saline?
Near the poles of the Earth.
Why are the oceans less saline near the poles of the Earth?
Because it’s where the fresh water ice caps are freezing/thaw and thus lower the salt concentration.
Where does the hydrosphere obtain its salt from?
From the weathering of the lithosphere, (dissolved minerals)
High salinity equals what?
High salinity=High density solution
Where does the salt come from?
Erosion.
What’s an ocean current?
It’s the movement of seawater in a certain direction.
What are 3 types of marine currents, (they’re interrelated)?
- Surface Currents, (&wind/atmosphere)
- Deep Currents
- Thermohaline Circulation
What’s surface currents?
It’s mostly generated by wind and ensure wide-scale horizontal circulation, (affects the top 400m of ocean water).
What’s deep currents, (subsurface currents)?
It’s caused by differences in temperature & salinity and ensure vertical circulation between the different layers of the ocean, (affects 800m below surface).
What are deep currents caused by?
Different densities of water.
What does cold water do?
It sinks because it has a high density
What does hot water do?
It rises because it has a low density
What does very salty water do?
It sinks because it has a high density
What’s thermohaline?
A combination of surface, (wind) and deep currents, (salinity & temperature affecting density).
What does a combination of surface and deep currents do?
It creates ocean circulation.
What does ocean circulation do?
It acts like a conveyor belt of both temperature regulation and salinity distribution.
What does the process of thermohaline do? And why?
It mixes water around the word to regulate the Earth’s climate and overall temperature.
What will happen if you put cold water in room temperature water? Why?
It will go to the bottom because it’s more dense.
What will happen if you put hot water in room temperature water? Why?
It will go to the top because it’s less dense than the room temperature water.
What will happen if you put salty water in room temperature water? Why?
It will go to the bottom because it’s super dense.
What is the cryosphere?
The layer made up of frozen water on Earth.
What 2 things make up the cryosphere?
- Ice floes
2. Glaciers
What are ice floes?
It forms when the surface of water freezes, (because of cold temperatures) and breaks off into sheets.
What’s a glacier?
It compressed snow on land.
What’s an iceberg?
Broken pieces of glacier that fall into the water.
What are the 3 impacts of melting ice?
- Disturbances in thermohaline currents
- Increase in sea levels
- Less ice=global warming
What are 2 energy sources?
- Hydraulic energy
2. Tidal power plants
What’s hydraulic energy?
Energy from moving water, (mechanical energy->electrical energy)
What are the 3 advantages of hydraulic energy?
- No pollutants, (once installed)
- Renewable
- Inexpensive
What are the 3 disadvantages of hydraulic energy?
- Floods
- Decrease of water downstream
- Disrupts habitats
What are tides caused by?
Gravitational pull of the sun and moon on the waters of the Earth.
What do tidal power plants do?
They use tides to produce electrical energy.
What are the 2 advantages of tidal power plants?
- Renewable
2. No pollutants, (once installed)
What are the 2 disadvantages of tidal power plants?
- Disrupts habitats
2. Ugly
Why is the moon’s influence on the Earth so much greater than the sun’s influence on the Earth?
Because it is much closer to the Earth.
