The water cycle 5.1-5.3 Flashcards
Systems thinking is…
theory about nature of complex systems in nature
- group of components parts that work together through a web of interactions
What type of system is the global water cycle
Closed system
What type of system is the global water cycle and why
Closed system because only energy(sun) can pass into and exit the system. Water stays in the system
What is a store
where water is held
What is a flow
A process that moves water from one store to another
What is a flux
a flow (only if we know the quantity
What are the largest stores in the global water cycle
- ocean
- cyrosphere
- groundwater
What is an aquifer?
underground store of water
What is infiltration
water going into the ground
What is percolation
water being pulled down by gravity (further into the ground)
What are proportional flow lines
Bigger the value, bigger the arrow
Residency times are
The average amount of time a water molecule will stay in a store
The longest residency times are found…
Ice cap, glaciers and permafrost
The shortest residency times are found…
Biospheric water
What are fossil aquifers
Aquifers that are ‘sealed’ and are not being replenished
What are cryospheric losses
Increased melting of a glacial ice takes water out the cryosphere, increasing ocean stores
A drainage basin is…
an area of land that is being drained by a river system
What type of system is the drainage basin
Open system
A watershead is….
the boundary of the drainage basin
The Largest drainage basin is
amazon (7.05million km sqaured)
The shortest drainage basin is
Tamborasi Indonesia (20 metres)
What factors affect the inputs, stores, flows and outputs?
Climates, Soils, Relief, Vegetation, Geology, Humans
The main input into a drainage basin is
precipitation
3 main causes of precipitation
Orographical rainfall
Convectional rainfall
Frontal rainfall
What is orographical rainfall
caused by the relief of the land forcing water vapour to rise and cooll
What is convectional rainfall
caused by the heating of the earths surface leading to more buoyant parcels of humid air rising.
What is Frontal rainfall
cause by warmer air masses rising above denser, colder air masses
Explain 3 impacts pf deforestation on the hydrological system
less evapotranspiration
less interception
it can degrade soils
What is the water budget
shows the annual balance between inputs and outputs
A river regime is…
the difference in the discharge of the river throughout the year
What are simple river regimes
charactersied by high flow in the summer and low flow in the winter
What are complex river regimes
characterised by brigning water from various different climate zones fluctuates more.
What are SUDS?
Sustainable drainage system
e.g. green roofs, permable basisn, detention basins
What is the PDSI?
palmers drought severity index
What causes droughts?
Physical
less precipitation
more wind
heatwaves
Enso
What causes droughts?
Human
water wastage
over abstraction
water pollution
mismanagment
deforestation
ITCS
inter tropical convergent zone
where the winds are meeting
A monsoon is
A blocking high pressure system is
where air moves down and spreads out.
