Water Cycle

Question 1

condensation

Answer 1

process by which water vapour changes to liquid water

Question 2

cryospheric processes

Answer 2

processes that affect the total mass of ice at any scale from local patches of frozen ground to global ice amounts e.g. accumulation & ablation

Question 3

drainage basin

Answer 3

area of land drained by a river and its tributaries

Question 4

evaporation

Answer 4

process by which liquid water changes to a gas

Question 5

evapotranspiration

Answer 5

total output of water from the drainage basin directly back into the atmosphere

Question 6

groundwater flow

Answer 6

slow movement of water through underlying rocks

Question 7

infiltration

Answer 7

downward movement of water from the surface into soil

Question 8

bankfull

Answer 8

the maximum discharge that a river channel is capable of carrying without flooding

Question 9

discharge

Answer 9

the amount of water in a river flowing past a particular point (cumecs)

Question 10

base flow

Answer 10

represents the normal day-to-day discharge of a river and consequence of slow moving soil throughflow and groundwater seeping into the river channel

Question 11

lag time

Answer 11

the time between peak rainfall and peak discharge

Question 12

peak discharge

Answer 12

the point on a flood hydrograph when river discharge is at its greatest

Question 13

storm flow

Answer 13

discharged resulting from storm precipitation involving overland, through-, and groundwater flows

Question 14

storm hydrograph

Answer 14

a graph of discharge of a river over the time period when the normal flow of the river is affected by a storm event

Question 15

rising limb

Answer 15

how quickly a river responds to a storm

Question 16

flow/transfer

Answer 16

a form of linkage between one store/component and another that involves movement of energy/mass

Question 17

input

Answer 17

the addition of matter and/or energy into a system

Question 18

store/component

Answer 18

a part of a system where energy/mass is stored or transformed

Question 19

system

Answer 19

a set of interrelated components working together towards some kind of process

Question 20

atmospheric water

Answer 20

mainly water vapour with some liquid water (cloud/rain droplets) and ice crystals in the atmosphere

Question 21

crysopheric water

Answer 21

water locked up on the earths surface as ice

Question 22

hydrosphere

Answer 22

a discontinuous layer of water at/near the surface (all liquid and frozen surface waters, groundwater in soil/rock and atmosp. vapour)

Question 23

oceanic water

Answer 23

water contained in the oceans and seas (not inland)

Question 24

terrestrial water

Answer 24

consists of groundwater, soil moisture, lakes, wetlands, rivers

Question 25

interception storage

Answer 25

precipitation that falls on the vegetation surfaces (canopy)/human-made cover and is temporarily stored here

Question 26

overland flow

Answer 26

the tendency of water to flow horizontally across land surfaces when rainfall has exceeded infiltration capacity of the soil and all surface stores are overflowing

Question 27

percolation

Answer 27

downward movement of water within the rock under the soil surface

Question 28

run-off

Answer 28

all water that enters a river channel and eventually flows out of the drainage basin

Question 29

saturated

Answer 29

applies to any water stored that has reached it maximum capacity

Question 30

stemflow

Answer 30

portion of precipitation intercepted by the canopy that reaches the ground by flowing down stems/stalks/tree bole

Question 31

rainfall event

Answer 31

rainfall period separated by dry intervals of at least 4 hours

Question 32

storm event

Answer 32

rainfall period separated by dry intervals of at least 24hrs

Question 33

throughfall

Answer 33

portion of the precipitation that reaches the ground directly though gaps in the canopy and drips from leaves, twigs, stems- when canopy-surface rainwater storage exceeds its storage capacity

Question 34

latent heat

Answer 34

the heat required to convert a solid into a liquid or vapour, or a liquid into a vapour, without change of temperature

Question 35

dew point temperature

Answer 35

the temperature to which the air would have to cool in order to reach sturation

Question 36

condensation nuclei

Answer 36

tiny particles needed for water molecules to be able to condense onto to convert to liquid water

Question 37

lithospheric water

Answer 37

water in the crust and upper mantle

Question 38

cloud

Answer 38

a visible mass of water droplets/ice crystals suspended in the atmsophere

Question 39

how clouds form

Answer 39

when air in lower layers of atmosphere becoming saturated due to either cooling of air and increase in water vapour falling as rain

Question 40

types of cryospheric water

Answer 40

sea ice (ice shelves, icebergs), ice sheets, ice caps, alpine glaciers, permafrost

Question 41

terrestrial- surface water

Answer 41

rivers, lakes, wetlands

Question 42

Ramsar Convention

Answer 42

an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands

Question 43

water table

Answer 43

depth at which soil pore spaces/fractures and voids in rock become completely with water

Question 44

latent heat

Answer 44

the heat required to convert a solid into a liquid/vapour or liquid into a vapour without change of temperature

Question 45

quaternary glaciation

Answer 45

most recent major glacial period 2.58 million years ago

Question 46

water balance

Answer 46

balance between inputs and outputs

precipitation (P) = discharge (Q) + evapotranspiration (E) +/- changes in storage (S)

Question 47

river regime

Answer 47

rise and fall of river discharge showing an annual pattern, vary in short term following heavy rainfall

Question 48

potential evapotranspiration

Answer 48

amount of water that could be evaporated/transpired from an area if there was sufficient water