The major stores of water Flashcards
What is the hydrosphere?
Water on or close to the Earth’s surface is called the hydrosphere
What is the percentage of oceanic water/saltwater
97%
What is the percentage of fresh water
3%
Where do you find fresh water?
Iy is locked up in land ice, glaciers and permafrost (cryospheric water), groundwater, lakes, soil, wetland, rivers, biomass (terrestrial water) and (atmospheric water)
Why is oceanic water salty?
It contains dissolved salts that allow it to stay as liquid water below ) degrees celsius
pH of the ocean?
was 8.25 but has fallen to 8.14,it will fallmore, the change in pH is linked to the increase in atmospheric carbon and has a large influence on marine ecosystems
What is the cryosphere?
the cryosphere are portions of the Earth’s surface where water is in sold form.
What are the five location of cryospheric water?
Sea ice e.g. ross ice shelf
ice capse.g. the iceland ice cap
ice sheets e.g. the Greenland ice sheet
alpine glaciers e.g. mer de glace
perafrost e.g the alaska north slope
How is sea ice formed?
When water in the oceans is cooled to temperatures below freezing
Why does sea ice not raise the sea level when it melts?
Because it is formed from ocean water
What are ice shelves
Platforms of ice form where ice sheets and glaciers move out into the oceans.
What are ice sheets?
Ice sheet is a mass glacial land ice.
What do the two major ice hseets on earth cover?
Most of Greeland and Antarctica
Where can you find 99% of allf freshwater ice on earth>
In the antarctic and greenland ice sheets
How are ice sheets form
Ice sheets form in areas where snow that falls in the winter does not melt entirely over the summer. Over thousands of years, the layers of snow pile up into thick masses of ice
