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WATER AND CARBON CYCLES > Water Cycle & DBs & Systems > Flashcards

Water Cycle & DBs & Systems Flashcards

1
Q

What is water stored as?

A

Liquid, Solid & Gas

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2
Q

Is most of the water in the ocean saline or freshwater?

A

Saline

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3
Q

How much of the water is freshwater?

A

3%

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4
Q

How much of the freshwater is frozen?

A

69%

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5
Q

What does water must be for humans?

A

Economically and physically accessible

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6
Q

What is it called when water is cycled between different stores?

A

The global hydrological cycle

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7
Q

What system is the GHC?

A

Closed system

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8
Q

What varies overtime in stores?

A

Magnitude

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9
Q

What does the magnitude of water depend on?

A

The amount of water flowing between the stores

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10
Q

What is evaporation?

A

When liquid water changes state into a gas, becoming water vapour

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11
Q

What does evaporation increase?

A

The amount of water stored into the atmosphere

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12
Q

When does condensation occur?

A

When water vapour changes state to become a liquid

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13
Q

What do water droplets do?

A

Can stay in the atmosphere or flow to other subsystems

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14
Q

Describe one change that can cause water vapour to condense

A

Temperature - large or rapid drop

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15
Q

What 2 things are essential for the water cycle?

A

Cloud formation & Precipitation

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16
Q

How do clouds form?

A

When warm air cools down, causing the water vapour in it to condense into water droplets

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17
Q

What 3 things that cause warm air to cool leading to precipitation?

A

Other air masses
Topography
Convection

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18
Q

How does other air masses lead to precipitation?

A

Warm air is less dense than cool air.
When they meet, warm air is forced above the cool air.
Cools down as it rises.

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19
Q

How does topography lead to precipitation?

A

When warm air meets mountains.
Forced to rise, causing it to cool.

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20
Q

How does convection lead to precipitation?

A

When the sun heats up the ground. Moisture on ground evaporates & rises up
. As it gets higher, it cools.

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21
Q

When does cloud formation and precipitation happen?

A

It varies seasonally.

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22
Q

What 2 cyrospheric processes change the amount of water stored as ice in the cyrosphere?

A

Accumulation & Ablation

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23
Q

What does the balance of accumulation and ablation vary with?

A

Temperature

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24
Q

When do variations in cyrospheric processes happen?

A

Over different timescales

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25
Q

Outline the impact of long-term global temperature changes on the water cycle.
(4 marks)

A

Higher temps cause the rate of evaporation to increase.
Means that more water is transferred from stores on the ground surface to the atmosphere.
As a result, more water is available for condensation and precipitation.
During periods of higher global temps, transfers between stores are therefore faster.

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26
Q

What do hydrographs show?

A

River discharge over a period of time

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27
Q

What is river discharge?

A

The volume of water that flows in a river per second

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28
Q

What is river discharge measured in?

A

Cumecs

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29
Q

What increases the discharge?

A

High levels of runoff

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30
Q

What is peak discharge?

A

The highest point on the graph when the discharge is the greatest.

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31
Q

What is lag time?

A

The delay between peak rainfall and peak discharge.

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32
Q

Why does lag time happen?

A

Because it takes time for the rainwater to flow into the river.

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33
Q

What does a shorter lag time increase & why?

A

River discharge because more water reaches the river during a shorter period of time.

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34
Q

What is a rising limb?

A

The part of the graph up to peak discharge.

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35
Q

What is a falling limb?

A

This is the part of the graph after peak discharge.

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36
Q

What are the 4 factors that affect runoff and hydrograph shape?

A

Size of drainage basin
Shape of drainage basin
Ground steepness
Rock and soil type

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37
Q

What does a larger drainage basin have compared to a smaller drainage basin?

A

L - More precipitation - higher peak discharge.
S - Shorter lag time so precipitation has less distance to travel to main channel.

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38
Q

What kind of a hydrograph does a circular basin have?

A

Flashy

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39
Q

Why is runoff higher when the water has less time to infiltrate?

A

Because it has a higher gradient

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40
Q

What are the physical factors that causes the water cycle to vary?

A

Seasonal changes and vegetation

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41
Q

What varies in inputs, stores and flows with the seasons?

A

The size.

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42
Q

Why does the size of flows through drainage basins reduce during the winter?

A

Because the water freezes.

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43
Q

What happens to the flows through drainage basins and outputs when the ice melts?

A

Size increases.

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44
Q

What does vegetation intercept and slow?

A

Precipitation and slows its movement into the river channel.

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45
Q

When is interception the highest?

A

When there is loads of vegetation and decidious trees have their leaves.

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46
Q

When there is more vegetation in a drainage basin, what is lost and through what?

A

Water through transpiration and evaporation.

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47
Q

What does lost water due to high amounts of vegetation reduce?

A

Runoff and peak discharge

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48
Q

What human activities affect the size of stores in the WC and the size and speed of flows?

A

Farming practices
Land Use Change
Water Abstraction

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49
Q

What is inflitration?

A

When rain hits the surface and what can’t infiltrate runs off.

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50
Q

What 4 farming practices can affect infiltration?

A

Ploughing
Crops
Livestock
Irrigation

51
Q

How does ploughing affect infiltration?

A

It breaks up the surface so that more water can infiltrate, reducing the amount of runoff.

52
Q

How do crops increase infiltration and interception compared to bare ground?

A

It reduces runoff.

53
Q

What does livestock do to infiltration and runoff?

A

Decreases infiltration and increases runoff

54
Q

What does irrigation do to runoff and what can fall if water is extracted for irrigation?

A

Increases runoff and groundwater or river levels can fall.

55
Q

What does deforestation reduce?

A

The amount of water that is intercepted by vegetation, increasing the amount of water that lands on the surface.

56
Q

What on the forest floor helps to hold the water which allows it to infiltrate and not run-off?

A

Dead plant material.

57
Q

What happens when forest cover is removed?

A

Amount of infiltration will decrease.

58
Q

What does construction of new buildings and roads create?

A

An impermeable layer over the land.

59
Q

What does a impermeable layer prevent?

A

Infiltration

60
Q

Why does urbanisation increase runoff?

A

Smooth surfaces

61
Q

Why is water abstracted from stores?

A

To meet demand in areas where population density is high.

62
Q

What does water abstraction reduce?

A

The amount of water in stores for example in lakes etc

63
Q

Why is water abstracted more in dry seasons?

A

For consumption and irrigation.

64
Q

Give 3 factors that affects the amount of run-off in a drainage basin.

A

Size of drainage basin
Shape of drainage basin
Gradient

65
Q

What system are drainage basins?

A

A open system with inputs and outputs.

66
Q

What is a river’s drainage basin?

A

The area surrounding the river where the rain is falling on the land flows into the river.

67
Q

What else can a drainage basin be called?

A

A river catchment.

68
Q

What is the boundary of a drainage basin?

A

The watershed.

69
Q

What does water come in as in a drainage basin?

A

Precipitation.

70
Q

What does water leave as in a drainage basin?

A

Transpiration and evaporation.

71
Q

What are the inputs of a drainage basin?

A

Precipitation

72
Q

What is the 6 parts of storage of a drainage basin?

A

Interception
Vegetation storage
Soil storage
Groundwater storage
Surface storage
Channel storage

73
Q

What is interception?

A

When some precipitation lands on vegetation or urban buildings before it reaches the soil.

74
Q

What does interception create?

A

A significant store of water in wooded areas.

75
Q

What is vegetation storage?

A

Water that’s been taken up by plants.

76
Q

What is surface storage?

A

Water in puddles, ponds, lakes

77
Q

What is soil storage?

A

Moisture in the soil

78
Q

What is groundwater storage?

A

The water stored in the ground, in the soil or in rocks.

79
Q

What is the water table?

A

The top surface of the zone of saturation - the zone where all pores of soil or rock are full.

80
Q

What is channel storage?

A

The water held in a river or a stream channel.

81
Q

What are 5 flows of a drainage basin?

A

Infiltration
Throughfall
Stemflow
Throughflow
Percolation

82
Q

What is infiltration?

A

Water soaking into the soil.

83
Q

What is overland flow?

A

Water flowing over the land.

84
Q

What is throughfall?

A

Water dripping from one leaf to another.

85
Q

What is stemflow?

A

Water running down a stem or a tree trunk.

86
Q

What is throughflow?

A

Water moving slowly downhill through the soil.

87
Q

What is percolation?

A

Water seeping down through the soil into the water table.

88
Q

What is groundwater flow?

A

Water flowing slowly below the water table through permeable rock.

89
Q

What is baseflow?

A

Groundwater flow that feeds into rivers through river banks and river beds.

90
Q

What is interflow?

A

Water flowing downhill through permeable rock above the water table.

91
Q

What is channel flow?

A

The water flowing into the river or channel itself.

92
Q

What are the 4 outputs of a drainage basin?

A

Evaporation
Transpiration
Evapotranspiration
River discharge

93
Q

What is transpiration?

A

Evaporation within leaves

94
Q

What is evapotranspiration?

A

The process of evaporation and transpiration together.

95
Q

What is the water balance?

A

The balance between inputs and outputs.

96
Q

What does the water balance affect?

A

How much water is stored in the basin.

97
Q

What creates a water surplus?

A

When precipitation exceeds evapotranspiration in wet seasons.

98
Q

What happens in drier seasons in the water balance?

A

Ground stores are depleted due to more evapotranspiration than precipitation.

99
Q

What is potential evapotranspiration?

A

The amount of water that could be lost through evapotranspiration.

100
Q

What is actual evapotranspiration?

A

What actually happens.

101
Q

What do systems compose of?

A

Inputs, Outputs, Flows, Stores & Boundaries

102
Q

What is a open system?

A

A open system is when systems receive inputs and transfer energy or matter with other systems

103
Q

What is a closed system?

A

When energy inputs equal outputs

104
Q

What is dynamic equilibrium in a system?

A

When inputs equal outputs despite changing conditions

105
Q

What is positive feedback and when does it occur?

A

When a chain of events amplifies the impacts of the original event

106
Q

What is negative feedback and when does it occur?

A

Refers to a chain of events that nullifies the impacts of the original event leading to dynamic equilibrium

107
Q

On a local scale is the carbon and water cycles a open or closed system?

A

Open

108
Q

On a global scale is the water and carbon cycle a open or closed system?

A

Closed

109
Q

What do inputs, outputs, flows and stores drive and cause overtime?

A

Changes in the water cycle!

110
Q

What is an input?

A

Where matter or energy is added to the system

111
Q

What is an output?

A

Where matter or energy leaves the system

112
Q

What are stores?

A

Where matter or energy builds up in the system

113
Q

What are flows?

A

Where matter or energy moves in the system

114
Q

What are boundaries? Example?

A

Limits to the system e.g watershed

115
Q

List 3 Inputs linking to precipitation?

A

Conventional, Relief, Frontal

116
Q

What is precipitation? 3 Examples?

A

Any water that falls to the surface of the earth from the atmosphere. Snow, Hail & Rain

117
Q

What is conventional precipitation ?

A

When warm air rises due to heating by the sun and it condenses at higher altitudes and falls as rain

118
Q

What is relief precipitation?

A

When warm air is forced upward by a barrier such as mountains which causes it to condense at higher altitudes and fall as rain

119
Q

What is frontal precipitation?

A

When warm air rises over cool air and when 2 bodies of air at different temperatures meet because warm air is less dense and lighter and it condenses at higher altitudes and falls as rain.

120
Q

What does the infiltration capacity depend on?

A

How quickly infiltration occurs

121
Q

What does the percolation rate depend on?

A

On the fractures that may be present in the rock and the permeability

122
Q

What does the speed of through flow depend on?

A

The type of soil

123
Q

What is the water balance used to express the process of ?

A

Water storage and transfer in the drainage basin system

WATER AND CARBON CYCLES (6 decks)

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