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water cycle Flashcards

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1
Q

what are the main stores in the water cycle?

A

oceans
ice and glaciers
groundwater
lakes
soils
atmosphere
rivers
biosphere

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2
Q

what is the main store and how much water does it store?

A

oceans
97%

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3
Q

what is the average residence time of a water molecule in the atmosphere?

A

9 days

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4
Q

where is the 3% of water that isn’t in the oceans?

A

3/4 is in ice caps in greenland and antartica
1/5 of all fresh water in permeable rocks

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5
Q

what is the water cycle budget?

A

the annual volume of movement of precipitation, evapotranspiration, run off….. between stores such as oceans, permeable rocks, ice sheets, vegetation…

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6
Q

how is the water cycle budget calculated?

A

precipitation=evapotranspiration + streamflow + storage

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7
Q

what is infiltration?

A

the vertical movement of rainwater through soil

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8
Q

what is evapo-transpiration?

A

combined loss of water at the surface through evaporation and transpiration by plants

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9
Q

what is ablation?

A

the loss of ice and snow, especially from a glacier, through melting, evaporation and sublimination.

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10
Q

what is run-off?

A

the movement of water across the land surface

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11
Q

how much water goes through the cycle / year as inputs and outputs

A

505,000 km3

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12
Q

where are inputs of water from? x4

A

-water vapour EVAPORATED from oceans, soils, lakes and rivers, and vapour TRANSPIRED through leaves of plants known as EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
-moisture leaves the atmosphere as PRECIPITATION and CONDENSATION. snowfields release water as ABLATION
-most drain from the land as surface water RUN-OFF into rivers. Moat rivers run to the ocean though some drain to inland basins. A large proportion of water that falls as precipitation reaches rivers after INFILTRATING through the soil
-after infiltrating the soil, water under gravity may PERCOLATE into permeable rocks or AQUIFERS. this GROUNDWATER reached the surface as springs and contributes to run-off

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13
Q

what is water balance?

A

the relationship between precipitation, streamflow, evapotranspiration and soil moisture and groundwater storage in a drainage basin over a year

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14
Q

what is the equation to figure out water balance?

A

precipitation = evapotranspiration + streamflow + storage

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15
Q

what is precipitation?

A

moisture (rain, snow, hail) falling from clouds towards the ground

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16
Q

when does precipitation form?

A

when the vapour in the atmosphere cools to its dew point and condenses into tiny water droplets or ice particles to form clouds. Eventually these droplets or ice particles aggregate, reach a critical size and leave the cloud as precipitation

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17
Q

how does precipitation vary in character and how does this impact the water cycle and the drainage basin scale?
catchments
intensity
duration
seasonal variations

A

most rain on reaching the ground flows quickly into streams and rivers. But in high latitudes and mountainous catchments precipitation often falls as snow and may remain on the ground for several months thus there may be a considerable time lag between snowfall and run-off

intensity is the amount of precipitation falling in a given time. High intensity rainfall moves rapidly overland into streams and rivers

duration is the length of time that a precipitation event lasts. prolonged event linked to depressions and frontal systems may deposit exceptional amount o precipitation and cause river flooding

in some parts of the world precipitation is concentrated in a rainy season. During this season river discharge is high and flooding is common. In the dry season, rivers may cease to flow at all

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18
Q

what is transpiration?

A

the diffusion of water vapour to the atmosphere form the leaf pores of the plants

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19
Q

how much atmospheric moisture is transpiration responsible for?

A

10%

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20
Q

what is the rate of transpiration influenced by?

A

temperature
wind speed
water availability to plants - trees shed their leaves in winter reducing availability

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21
Q

what is condensation?

A

phase change of vapour to a liquid water
occurs when the air is cooled to its dew point
at this critical temperature air becomes saturated with vapour resulting in condensation

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22
Q

what is a cumuliform cloud?

A

flat bases and considerable vertical development
form when the earth is heated locally through contact with the Earth’s surface - causing heated air parcels to rise freely through the atmosphere (convection) and expand (due to the fall in pressure with altitude) and cool
as cooling reaches the dew point, clouds form

23
Q

what is a stratiform cloud?

A

advection
air mass moves horizontally across a cooler surface, usually the ocean along with mixing and turbulence

24
Q

what is a cirrus cloud?

A

form at high altitude
consist of tiny crystals
do not produce precipitation
little influence on the water cycle

25
Q

what is the environment lapse rate?

A

vertical temperature profile of the lower atmosphere at any given time

26
Q

what is the average environmental lapse rate?

A

falls by 6.5 degrees every km of height gained

27
Q

what is the dry adiabatic lapse rate?

A

the rate at which a parcel of dry air cool

28
Q

what is the average dry adiabatic lapse rate?

A

10 degrees/km

29
Q

what is the saturated adiabatic lapse rate?

A

rate at which a saturated parcel of air cools as it rises through the atmosphere

30
Q

what is the average saturated adiabatic lapse rate and why?

A

7 degrees/ kilometre
condensation releases the latent heat so it is lower than DALR

31
Q

when does cooling occur in a cloud?

A

air warmed by contact with the ground or sea surface rises freely through the atmosphere
as the air rises and and pressure falls it cools by adiabatic expansion. this vertical movement of air is known as convection.

air masses move horizontally across a relatively cooler surface - advection

air masses rise as they cross a mountain barrier or as turbulence forces their ascent producing orographic rainfall

a relatively warm air mass mixes with a cooler one - producing frontal rainfall

32
Q

what is adiabatic expansion?

A

the expansion of a parcel of air due to a decrease in pressure.
expansion causes cooling

33
Q

what do lapse rates show?

A

vertical distribution of temperature in the lower atmosphere and the temperature changes that occur within an air parcel as it rises vertically away from the ground

34
Q

what is atmospheric instabilty?

A

sun warms air in contact with the surface to 18 degrees
because the air is warmer than it’s surroundings it is less dense and is buoyant
results in air rising freely in a convection current
when internal temp reached 8 degrees condensation occurs and cloud forms
air continues to rise so long as its internal temp is higher than the surrounding atmosphere

35
Q

where is the equilibrium in atmospheric stability?

A

4000m
-13 degrees
cloud stays stable

36
Q

what happens to a cloud above 4000m

A

cannot rise anymore and heavier than its surroundings

37
Q

what is evaporation?

A

phase change of liquid water to vapour and is the main pathway by which water enters the atmosphere
heat is needed to break the molecular bonds, allowing huge quantities of heat energy to be transferred around the planet

38
Q

what is interception?

A

vegetation intercepts a proportion of precipitation, storing it temporarily on branches, leaves and stems.

39
Q

what is interception loss?

A

when the moisture stores on plants evaporates or falls to the ground

40
Q

what is throughfall?

A

water that is briefly intercepted before dripping to the ground

41
Q

what is stemflow?

A

during periods of intense rainfall, intercepted water may flow to the ground along branches and stems

42
Q

what are the two flowpaths that rain follows to get to rain and streams?

A

infiltrations by gravity into the soil and lateral movement or throughflow to stream and river channels
overland flow across the ground surface either as a sheet or as trickles and rivulet to stream and river channels

43
Q

what is infiltration capacity?

A

maximum rate it can absorb rain

44
Q

when does overland flow occur?

A

when the soils infiltration capacity is exceeded or when the soil becomes too saturated and the water table rises the surface known as saturated overland flow

45
Q

when does groundwater flow occur?

A

where soils are underlain by permeable rocks so water seeps or percolates deep underground. this water then migrates slowly through the rock pores and joins as groundwater flow eventually emerging at the surface as springs or seepages

46
Q

what is recharge?

A

net input of water into an aquifer causing a rise in the water table

47
Q

what are cryospheric processes?

A

ablation is the loss of snow, ice sheets and glaciers due to a combination of melting, evaporation and sublimination. Meltwater is an improtant component of river flow in high latitude sand mountain catchments in spring and summer. Rapid thawing of snow in upland Britain is a common cause of flooding in lowlands eg Penines

48
Q

define percolation

A

the movement of surface and soil water into underlying permeable rocks

49
Q

define infiltration

A

the vertical movement of water in soil

50
Q

define throughfall

A

rainfall initially intercepted by vegetation falls to ground

51
Q

define throughflow

A

water flowing horizontally through the soil to stream and river channels

52
Q

define groundwater flow

A

the horizontal movement of water through aquifers

53
Q

what are the causes of precipitation?

A

when condensation occurs
air temperature reduced to a dew point
atmosphere gets warmer and cold surface cools air above it

volume of air increases as it rises and expands but there is no addition of hear (adiabatic cooling)

54
Q

what are the three causes of why air may be forced to rise causing rainfall?

A

rises over hills and mountais = orographic rainfall
air masses of different densities meet, warm air rises above colder air = frontal rainfall
warm air rises from hot surfaces on sunny days = convectional rainfall

physical geography (17 decks)

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