Water Flashcards
how much water do the worlds oceans store
96.5% of water
how much freshwater do glaciers and ice caps store
68.7% of freshwater
how much water is stored as groundwater
1.69% of the world’s water
how much freshwater is stored in lakes
0.26% of freshwater
what is the residency time of ice caps, glaciers, and permafrosts
1,000 to 10,000 years
what is the residency time of groundwater
2 weeks to 10,000 years
what is the residency time of oceans and seas
4,000 years
what is the residency time of biospheric water
1 week
what is the residency time of atmospheric water
1.5 weeks
what is the fossil aquifer called thats in Central USA
Ogalalla aquifer
where is the worlds largest drainage basin
Amazon river
how much freshwater comes from the Amazon
1/5 of all freshwater
which places experience monsoon seasons
- West Africa
- South Asia
How much water has Lake Nasser lost through evaporation
- 10-16 billion meters^3/year (20% of Nile water volume)
what were some impacts of the 2014-15 Brazil drought
- worst drought for 80 years
- water levels in some of the largest HEP schemes fell
- agriculture was in crisis
- urban taps in Rio and Sao Paulo ran dry
what caused the 2014-15 Brazil drought
a high pressure system blocked air from moving southward
what were the human factors in the 2014-15 Brazil drought
- water rationing for 4 million people
- power cuts caused by the halting of HEP
- increased groundwater abstraction (low aquifers) (only source of water for poor people) (shallow = easily contaminated)
- rising urban population (20% in 20 years)
how many boreholes were made in the 2014-15 Brazil drought
2.5 million illegal boreholes
how many people live in Sao Paulo
20 million people
by what % have groundwater rates increased by between the 1980s and early 2000s in Australia
100%
what are the consequences of the Great Artesian Basin drying up
- drying of mounds and springs in S.Australia and Queensland
- loss of paperbark swamps and wetlands
- more expensive to extract groundwater for irrigation and other commercial applications
why were there less wildfires in Australia pre-colonisation
the Indigenous populations carefully maanged the grasslands through lighting small flames to prevent flammable vegetation from growing back
what were the consequences of the Black Summer bushfires (2019-20)
- AUD$ 100 billion cost
- burnt 10 million hectares of land