water and carbon cycle

Question 1

water can be stored in four areas?

Answer 1

hydrosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere, atmosphere

Question 2

what is the cryosphere

Answer 2

any water that is frozen

Question 3

what is the lithosphere?

Answer 3

water stored in the crust and upper mantle.

Question 4

how much of earth’s fresh water is stored in the cryosphere and lithosphere store?

Answer 4

cryosphere- 69%

lithosphere- 30%

Question 5

evaporation

Answer 5

when liquid changes state in to a gas

Question 6

what affects the magnitude of evaporation.

Answer 6

it is dependent on season and location, as large levels of solar radiation combined with a large supply of water and warm dry air.

Question 7

condensation

Answer 7

when water vapour changes state to a liquid. happens when the air cools to its dew point. e.g at night.

Question 8

what affects the magnitude of condensation

Answer 8

amount of water vapour in the atmosphere and the temperature.

Question 9

cloud formation

Answer 9

clouds form when warm air cools down, causing the water vapour In it to condense into water droplets, which gather as clouds.

Question 10

what causes warm air to cool

Answer 10

topography, convection, other air masses.

Question 11

topography

Answer 11

when warm air meets mountains, its forced to rise, causing it to cool. This results in orographic precipitation.

Question 12

convection

Answer 12

when the sun heats up the ground, moisture on the ground evaporates and rises up in a column of warm air. as it gets higher it cools, resulting in precipitation.

Question 13

other air masses

Answer 13

warm air is less dense than cool air. as a result when the two contrasting airs meet, the warm air is forced above the cool air. As this warm air rises it cools down causing frontal precipitation.

Question 14

what is a drainage basin?

Answer 14

is the area surrounding the river where the rain falling on the land flows into that river. they are OPEN systems.

Question 15

watershed

Answer 15

the watershed is the dividing ridge, any precipitation falling beyond the water shed enters a different drainage basin.

Question 16

where can be water be stored on a local scale ?

Answer 16

interception,
vegetation storage,
surface storage,
groundwater storage,
soil storage.

Question 17

what are the flows in the water cycle?

Answer 17

infiltration,
overland flow,
through fall,
stemflow,
through flow,
percolation,
groundwater flow,
baseflow,
interflow,
channel flow.

Question 18

overland flow

Answer 18

water flowing over the land because of saturated soil.

Question 19

through fall

Answer 19

water dropping from one leaf to another.

Question 20

Throughflow

Answer 20

water moving slowly downhill through the soil.

Question 21

percolation

Answer 21

water seeping down through the soil into the water table.

Question 22

baseflow

Answer 22

groundwater flow that feeds into river banks and beds.

Question 23

what are the inputs into the water system?

Answer 23

evaporation,
transpiration,
evapotranspiration.

Question 24

transpiration

Answer 24

evaporation from within leaves- plants and trees take up water through their roots and transport it to their leaves where it evaporates into the atmosphere.

Question 25

what is evapotranspiration?

Answer 25

the process of the two together.

Question 26

the water balance uk pattern

Answer 26

• during wet seasons, precipitation exceed evapotranspiration. This creates a water surplus. the ground stores fill so that there’s more surface runoff and higher discharge, so river levels rise.

-in drier seasons these stores deplete as they are used and not replaced by further precipitation .

-therefore at the end of the dry season there’s a defect of water in the ground.

Question 27

peak discharge

Answer 27

discharge is the volume of water that flows in a river per second.

Question 28

lag time

Answer 28

this is the delay between peak rainfall and peak discharge, this delay happens because it takes time for water to enter the river.

Question 29

what affects the hydrographic shape?

Answer 29

size of drainage basins - larger basins have a higher peak discharge and longer lag times because more water can be stored and it takes longer to enter the channel flow.

shape of drainage basin - if the basin is largely circular it is more likely to be a flashy hydrograph because all points on the watershed are roughly the same distance from the point of discharge measurement.

ground steepness- shortens lag time and increases runoff.

rock type and soil type- increases peak discharge and shortens lag time.

Question 30

physical changes to the water cycle:

Answer 30

seasonal changes,
storm events,
el nino and la nina.

Question 31

human changes to the water cycle

Answer 31

farming practices,
land use change,
water abstraction,

Question 32

seasonal changes (water)

Answer 32

in the UK the size of inputs, flows and stores in the water cycle varies with the seasons:

• water can freeze
• seasonal vegetation can die/grow

Question 33

el nino and la nina

Answer 33

reduced precipitation in these regions leads to lower terrestrial moisture content, so there is less water in the soil available to evaporate. These regional reductions are so intense that they severely affect the global average volume of evapotranspiration

Question 34

farming practices

Answer 34

• ploughing the soil increases infiltration.
• arable farming can increase interception and evapotranspiration.
  -pastoral farming compacts soil, reducing infiltration and increasing run of as the compress the ground.

Question 35

land use change

Answer 35

• deforestation reduces interception and evapotranspiration.
• construction reduces infiltration and increases runoff.

Question 36

water abstraction

Answer 36

• obviously reduces water in surface stores and ground stores.
  -increases during dry seasons and overall the abstraction is greater then the level of input.

Question 37

lithosphere (carbon)

Answer 37

over 99.9% of the carbon on earth is stores in sedimentary rocks.

Question 38

biosphere (carbon)

Answer 38

carbon is stored in the tissues of living organisms it is transferred to the soil when they decay.

Question 39

the carbon cycle

Answer 39

the carbon cycle is a closed system, there are inputs and outputs of energy however the amount of carbon always remains the same.

Question 40

carbon flows

Answer 40

photosynthesis,
respiration,
combustion,
decomposition,
carbon sequestration,
weathering,
ocean uptake and loss.

Question 41

photosynthesis

Answer 41

c02 + water -> light energy= glucose and oxygen.

Question 42

respiration

Answer 42

opposite to photosynthesis when animals convert oxygen and glucose into c02 and water. plants respire at night as there is no light energy.

Question 43

combustion

Answer 43

when fossil fuels are consumed or organic matter such as trees are burnt, they emit C02.

Question 44

decomposition

Answer 44

when organisms die they are broken down by decomposers such as fungi or bacteria- releasing c02 and methane. some carbon is transferred back to the soil in the form of humus.

Question 45

carbon sequestration

Answer 45

carbon from the atmosphere can be sequestered in sedimentary rock or fossil fuels.

carbon capture storage- captures 90% of the co2 produced but is extremely expensive.

Question 46

weathering

Answer 46

chemical weathering occurs when carbon reacts with water vapour to form acidic rain. this rain hits rocks and begins to dissolve them. the molecules from this reaction may be passed through the water cycle and enter the oceans, here they reacts with co2 from the sea to form calcium carbonate which assists in forming shells.

Question 47

ocean uptake and loss

Answer 47

co2 is directly dissolved from the atmosphere into the ocean. additionally when it is taken up by organisms such as plankton.

carbon is also transferred back to the atmosphere when water from deep in the oceans rises to the surface.

Question 48

types of carbon flows

Answer 48

fast carbon flows quickly transfer the carbon between sources, it takes a matter of minutes to days.
ph, resp, comb, decomposition.

sequestration is a slow carbon flow as it takes place over millions of years.

Question 49

changes to the carbon cycle (physical)

Answer 49

wildfires- co2 released through combustion. loss of vegetation so less evapotranspiration. fires can encourage growth log term.

volcanic activity- carbon stored within the earth in magma is released during eruptions.
in 1815 MT Tambora in Indonesia produced sulphur dioxide gas which blocked solar radiation reducing global temperatures by 0.4-0.7 degrees celsius in 1816

Question 50

human changes to the carbon cycle

Answer 50

hydrocarbon extraction/ use,
deforestation,
farming practices- pastoral and arable farming. rice paddies emit methane.
land use changes- concrete production releases co2.

Question 51

the carbon budget

Answer 51

the carbon budget is the balance between inputs and outputs to a store at any scale or the balance of exchanges between the four major stores.

carbon source - a store that emit more carbon than it absorbs.
carbon sink- the opposite.

Question 52

the carbon cycle affects the atmosphere and climate

Answer 52

affects the amount of gases containing carbon in the atmosphere.
the enhanced greenhouse affect- the greenhouse gases trap solar radiation causing global warming.
change in temperature can cause events such as storms.

Question 53

the carbon cycle affects the land

Answer 53

warmer temps melt permafrost and release greenhouse gases within them. can also increase frequency and intensity of fires.

Question 54

the carbon cycle affects the oceans

Answer 54

• increased levels of co2 in the atmosphere can increase the acidity of the oceans because the oceans absorb more co2.
• global warming can also affect oceans, e.g. organisms such as phytoplankton that is sensitive to temp may die.
• warmer water is less able to absorb co2 .

Question 55

links between water and carbon

Answer 55

-carbon combines with water to form chemical weathering.

-water is needed for photosynthesis, which removes carbon from the atmosphere.

-the amount of co2 in the atmosphere affects global temperatures, which affect the amount of evaporation that can take place.

Question 56

climate change affects life on earth

Answer 56

• the pattern of precipitation is said to worsen.
• increased frequency of extreme weather events.
  -agricultural productivity will decrease.
• sea levels expected to rise further.

Question 57

human intervention of climate change.

Answer 57

individual - change in habits or installation of sustainable energy production e.g solar panels.

national- governments can reduce the cost of renewable energy sources. they can also invest in ccs.

global- the 2015 Paris agreement, countries limited the amount of emissions. also carbon trading schemes where businesses are limited on the emissions they can produce.