Water and Carbon Cycles Flashcards
Describe what systems are
Systems are a set on interrelated components working together towards an end process.
Name the types of systems
Open Systems - Energy and mass can be imputed and outputted
Closed Systems - Energy can be transferred, matter can only be transferred within the system
Isolated Systems - No interactions with anything outside the system
What are the types of feedbacks found in systems
Positive feedback - Effects of action are amplified and multiplied by knock-on effects - Increasing effect of change
Negative feedback - Effects of action are nullified by subsequent knock-on effects - decreasing effect of change
Dynamic Equilibrium - Inputs and outputs the system are balanced
Describe the distribution of Earth’s water
2.5% of earths water is in freshwater
1.2% of the freshwater is found on the surface, 30.1% underground and the rest in glaciers
3% of surface water is found in the Atmosphere, 30% in lakes and 69% in permafrost
Name the important processes that occur in the water cycle
- Evaporation
- Transpiration
- Condensation
- Sublimation
Describe the Atmospheric Circulation Model
Atmosphere moved around in ‘cells’ - Polar, hadley, ferrel cells. They move warm moist air up, to higher latitudes where they cool down and sink.
Outline the features of a drainage basin
Watershed - Boundary of the Basin
Main river channel and multiple tributaries
Source and Mouth
Name the processes in a drainage basin
Inputs - Precipitation
Flows / transfers:
- Percolation (downward movement of water into permeable rock )
- Infiltration ( downward movement of water into soil )
- Overland Flow
- Stemflow
- Throughflow ( movement of water down hill slope inside the soil )
- Evaporation
- Transpiration
- Channel flow
- Groundwater flow ( Movement of water through permeable rock )
Stores:
- Interception
- Groundwater
- Surface storage
What is the Soil Water Budget
The balance between inputs and outputs within a drainage basin
P = Q + E +(S)
P - precipitation, Q - Run-off, E - Evaporation, S - Storage Change
What are the human impacts on the water cycle?
Soil drainage - Agriculture
Abstraction
Deforestation - Land use change
Factors that increase the carbon in the atmosphere
- Burning Fossil Fuels
- Decomposition
- Respiration
- Wildfires
- Volcanic eruptions
Natural processes that cause change in the carbon cycle
Wildfires
- Rapid transfer large quantities of carbon from biomass to the atmosphere
- Decrease in vegetation - decrease in photosynthesis
- Encourages new growth in long term - Can naturally balance carbon
Human Processes that cause change in the carbon cycle
Burning Hydrocarbons
- Extraction and burning releases CO2
- Without humans, fuel sources stay sequestrated for millions of years
Deforestation
- Land use for agriculture, logging, development
- Decrease in carbon store, burning causes rapid release
Agriculture
- Animals increase CO2 and methane
- Tilling releases CO2 stored in soil
- Rice paddies release large quantities of Methane
- Increased amount of machinery increases amount of released CO2
- increasing world population increases need for agriculture
Land Use Change
- Natural -> urban
- Removal of vegetation - decrease in carbon stored in biosphere
- Concrete production produces large quantity of CO2
What is the carbon budget
Difference between inputs and outputs in a subsystem
Carbon Source - Releases more carbon than it absorbs
Carbon Sink - Absorbs more carbon that it produces.
Atmospheric inputs of carbon
Volcanic eruptions
Burning fossil fuels
Respiration
Ocean loss
Decomposition
