Water Flashcards
What are the 5 spheres in which water is stored?
- Cryosphere
- Atmosphere
- Hydrosphere
- Biosphere
- Lithosphere
Give the definitions to these key words;
- Fossil water
- Aquifer
- Stem flow
- Adiabatic cooling
- Dew point
- Fossil water = Ancient deep groundwater from former pluvial ( wetter ) periods.
- Aquifer = a permeable or porous rock which stores water.
- Stem flow = when water trickles along twigs and branches and then down the trunk
- Adiabatic cooling = when the volume of air increases but there is no addition of heat
- Dew point = the temperature to which air must be cooled to become saturated with water vapour
Give definitions of these words;
- Watershed
- Catchment
- Watershed = The highland which divides and separates
waters flowing to different rivers - Catchment = The area of land drained by a river and its
tributaries
What does the human factor ( which influences the drainage basin system; specifically precipitation ) cloud seeding mean?
Cloud seeding = Introduction of silver iodide pellets, or ammonium nitrate, to act as a condensation nuclei to attract water droplets. The aim is to increase rainfall in drought-stricken areas
When talking about water budgets what formula can we use to work out drainage basin water budgets?
P = Q + E +/- S
P = Precipitation Q = Discharge (stream flow) E = Evapotranspiration S = Changes in storage
What are the three main components of interception?
- Interception loss
- Throughfall
- Stem flow
List the human and physical factors which affect the drainage basin system (specifically the stores and flows)
Physical factors;
- Climate
- Soils
- Geology
- Relief
- Vegetation
Human Factors
- Deforestation
- Urbanisation
- Cloud seeding
- Dam construction
What are the 4 types of drought?
- Meteorological drought
- Hydrological drought
- Agricultural drought
- Famine drought
Why are wetlands important and what are some of its key functions ?
- They act as temporary stores within the hydrological cycle, thus mitigating river floods downstream
- Chemically wetlands act like huge water filters by trapping and recycling nutrients helping maintaining water quality
- High biological productivity and support a very diverse food web like nursery areas for fish
- Providers of resources, of services in terms of hydrology within the water cycle, and as a carbon store
What are some examples of local water stores ?
- Soil moisture
- Interception
What are the short term meteorological causes of drought?
- Air Pressure
In areas of high pressure, evaporated water has difficulty rising high enough to
condense, and so in areas of high pressure there is often little precipitation which
could lead to drought. - Warm and Cold fronts
Remember cold air follows a cold front and warm air follows a warm front
When talking about about drainage basin systems and as far as the hydrological system is concerned one of the key factors is variability what are the three types of variability?
- Secular Variability - happens long term, e.g. as a result of climate change trends
- Periodic Variability - happens in an annual, seasonal, monthly or diurnal context
- Stochastic Variability - results from random factors, e.g. in the localisation of thunderstorm within a basin
When talking about River Regimes what are some factors that influence the character of the regime of the resulting stream or river?
- The size of the river where measurements are taken in the basin
- The amount, pattern and intensity of precipitation
- The geology and overlying soils and their permeability and porosity
- The amount and type of vegetation cover: wetlands can hold the water and release it very slowly into the system
What is the UN definition of a drought?
‘drought is defined as an extended period - a season, a year, or several years - of deficient rainfall relative to the statistical multi-year average for a region’
Remember drought is a chronic hazard and a creeping hazard (slow onset)
What are the 3 Index’s we can use to measure drought?
- Palmer Drought Severity Index
- Crop Moisture Index
- Palmer Hydrological Drought Index
What does the key term Eutrophication mean?
This is linked to the environmental impacts of floods
Eutrophication - Excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to run-off from farming land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and animal life from a lack of oxygen
What is the difference between water stress and water scarcity in the numerical m of each?
Water stress is renewable water resources of 1000 and 1700m cubed per capita
Water scarcity is renewable water resources are low, between 500 and 1000m cubed per capita
When talking about the causes of water insecurity what are the 3 human and 3 physical causes that we look at?
Physical
- Climate variability
- Salt-water encroachment
- Pacific island case studies
Human
- Agricultural contamination
- Industrial water pollution
- Over-abstraction
How does the UN define water insecurity?
“the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water”
What are some facts and statistics that can be used when talking about water insecurity around the world?
- 12% of the world’s population consumes 85% of its water
- 1.8 billion people lack clean drinking water
- Every 90 seconds a child dies from a water-borne disease
What are the three types of water and what do they mean?
Blue water = rainwater that ends up in rivers lakes reservoirs and groundwater
Green water = rainfall that falls on vegetation, enters the soil and is used by vegetation
Fossil water definition named earlier
When talking about floods what is the difference between fluvial and pluvial?
Fluvial river flooding relates to the river flooding (the channels)
Pluvial river relates to rainfall includes precipitation, overland flow, impermeable surfaces, increased lag-time
What is a key quote that shows the importance and value of water?
” We never know the worth of water till the well is dry”
What are a few of the main features of IWRM ?
- Environmental protection of all supplies, ecosystems
- Effective regulation and planning of use
- Food security and water security for the poor
What are the 4 sections of the water sustainability quadrant?
- Futurity - How do we manage demands yet at the same time ensuring the security of supplies for the future
- Environment - Environmental protection
- Public Participation - Involvement of communities, bottom-up schemes
- Equity and social justice - Equitable allocation between users
