Water and Carbon Cycles - Keywords Flashcards
Recharge
- When water is added to soil moisture storage
- Happens when precip > POTET but soil is not yet at field capacity
Surplus
- Happens when precip > POTET and soil is at field capacity
- So any extra water applied to soil runs off
- Flooding can occur in this season as water may run off into streams + rivers and cause them to overflow
- So intensity + duration of surplus can be used to predict severity of flooding
Utilization
- When water is withdrawn from soil moisture storage
- Happens when POTET > price but soil storage is not yet at 0 (i.e. soil is not completely dry)
Deficit
- Happens when POTET > precip and soil storage is at 0 (i.e. soil is completely dry)
- In this season there is no water for plants, so farmers have to irrigate their crops, either by tapping into ground water reserves or using water from streams + lakes
Interception storage
- The precipation that falls and is temporarily stored on vegetation or human made surfaces
- From here can be evaporated directly to atmosphere, absorbed by vegetation, or transmitted to ground surface
Overland flow
- The water that has to flow horizontally across land surfaces bc soil has reached its infiltration capacity and all surface stores are saturated
Percolation
- When water moves downwards within rock under the soil surface
Run-off
- All the water that enters a river channel and flows out of its drainage basin.
Saturated
- Any water store that has reached its full capacity
Stemflow
- The precip intercepted by the canopy that reaches the ground via flowing down stems, stalks, or tree bole.
Storm
A rainfall period separated by dry intervals of at least 24 hours
Rainfall event
A rainfall period separated by dry intervals of at least 4 hours
Throughfall / Leaf drip
- The precip intercepted by the canopy that reaches the ground via falling through gaps in the canopy or dripping from leaves, twigs, and stems
- Only happens then canopy-surface rainwater storageis saturated
Throughflow
- The water that moves down-slope through the sub-soil due to gravity
- Particularly effective when underlying permeable rock prevents further downward movement
Transpiration
The loss of water from vegetation through pores (stomata) on their surface
Water balance
The balance between inputs (precipitation) and outputs (run-off, evapotranspiration, soil and groundwater storage) in a drainage basin.
Condensation
The process by which water vapour changes to liquid water
Cryospheric Processes
Those processes that affect the total mass of ice at any scale from local patches of frozen ground to global ice amounts. They include accumulation (the build-up of ice mass) and ablation (the loss of ice-mass).
Drainage basin
The area of land drained by a river and its tributaries. Includes water found on the surface, in the soil, and in near-surface geology.
Evaporation
The process by which liquid water changes to a gas. Requires energy, which is provided by the sun, and aided by wind.
Evapotranspiration
The total output of water from the drainage basin directly back into the atmosphere.
Groundwater flow
The slow movement of water through underlying rocks.
Infiltration
The downward movement of water from the surface into soil.
Enhanced greenhouse effect
The impact on the climate from the additional heat retained due to the increased amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that humans have released into the Earth’s atmosphere since the industrial revolution.
Geo-sequestration
The technology of capturing greenhouse gas emission from power stations and pumping them into underground resevoirs.
Radiative forcing
The difference between the incoming solar energy absorbed by the Earth and energy radiated back to space.
Soil organic carbon
The organic constituents in the soil: tissues from dead plants and animal products produced as these decompose and the soil microbial biomass.
Anthropogenic CO2
Carbon dioxide generated by human activity
Biosphere
The total sum of all living matter
Carbon sequestration
The capture of CO2 from the atmosphere or capturing of anthropogenic CO2 from large-scale stationary sources like power plants before it is released into the atmosphere. Once captured, the CO2 gas or carbon portion of it is put into long-term storage.
Greenhouse gas
Any gaseous compound in the atmosphere that is capable of absorbing infrared radiation, thereby trapping and holding heat in the atmosphere.
Lithosphere
The crust and the uppermost mantle; this constitutes the hard and rigid outer layer of the Earth.
Weathering
The breakdown of rocks ‘in situ’ by the combination of weather, plants and animals.
Discharge
The volume of water in a river flowing past a particular point in a given time. It is expressed in cumecs.
Bankfull
The maximum discharge that a river is capable of carrying without flooding.
Base flow
The normal day-to-day discharge of a river, that is the consequence of slow moving soil through flow and groundwater seeping through the river channel.
Lag time
The time between the peak rainfall and peak discharge.
Storm flow
Discharge resulting from storm precipitation involving both overland flow, through flow, as well as groundwater flow.
Storm hydrograph
A graph of discharge of a river over the time period when the normal flow of a river is
