The Water Cyle Definitions Flashcards
What is an anticyclone?
A system of high pressure, causing high temperatures and unseasonably high evaporation rates
What is an aquifer?
A permeable or porous rock which stores water
What is channel flow?
Water flowing in a rivulet, stream or river
What is convectional precipitation?
Solar radiation heats the air above the ground, causing it to rise, cool and condense forming precipitation (often as thunderstorms)
What is the cryosphere?
The global water volume locked up within a frozen state (i.e. snow and ice)
What is a depression?
A system of low pressure, with fronts of precipitation where low and high pressure air masses meet
What is a desalination plant?
The conversion of seawater to freshwater, suitable for human consumption
What is desublimation?
The change of state of water from gas to solid, without being a liquid (the opposite process to sublimation)
What is a drainage basin?
The area of land drained by a river and its tributaries
What is drainage density?
The total length of all rivers and streams divided by the area of the drainage basin
What is drought?
An extended period of deficient rainfall relative to the statistical average for the region
What is economic water scarcity?
When water resources are a available but insufficient economic wealth limits access to it
What is the ENSO cycles?
El Niño Southern Oscillations - naturally occurring phenomena that involves the movement of warm water in the Equatorial Pacific
What is evapotranspiration?
The combined total moisture transferred from the Earth to the atmosphere, through evaporation and transpiration
What is frontal precipitation?
Where air masses of different temperatures meet at a front, one mass will be forced over another, causing precipitation beneath the front
What is the Global hydrological cycle?
The continuous transfer of water between land, atmosphere and oceans. The earth is a closed system
What is groundwater flow?
Water moving horizontally through permeable or porous rock due to gravity
What is hydrological drought?
Insufficient soil moisture to meet the needs of vegetation at a particular time
What is infiltration?
The movement of water vertically through the pores in soil
What is integrated drainage basin management?
Establishing a frame of co ordinated efforts between administrations and stakeholders to achieve balanced management of a basin
What is interception?
Raindrops are prevented from falling directly onto the ground, instead hitting the leaves of a tree
What is meteorological drought?
When long-term precipitation trends are below average
What is a monsoon?
The drastic variation between wet and dry seasons for sun tropical areas, caused by a changed or prevailing wind. Can lead to annual flooding
What is an open system?
A system affected by external flows and inputs (such as a drainage basin, or sediment cell)
What is percolation?
Water moving vertically from soil into permeable rock
What is physical water scarcity?
A physical lack of available freshwater which cannot meet demand
What is relief precipitation?
Precipitation caused when air masses are forced to rise over high land, determined by the relief/ morphology of the land
What is a river regime?
The pattern of river discharge over a year
What is runoff?
Water flowing over the surface of the ground
What is salinisation?
Where salt water contaminated freshwater stores or soils, creating saline conditions and reducing human use/ consumption
What is salt water encroachment?
The movement of saltwater into freshwater aquifers of soils. This may be caused by sea level rise, storm surges or over-extraction
What is smart irrigation?
Providing crops with a water supply less than optimal, to make crops resistant to water shortages
