Water Cycle OLD Flashcards
what type of system does the global hydrological cycle operate in?
Closed cycle (continual circulation/ amount isn’t changed)
what are Outputs?
movement of water or energy out of store
eg: evaporation out of sea in to the atmosphere
what is an Input?
movement of matter or energy into a store
eg: precipitation from atmosphere to ground or sea
what is a store?
where matter or energy is kept for a relatively long period
eg: water in oceans (3600 years)
or ground water (up to 10000 years)
what is a flow/flux ?
amount of matter or energy transferred from one place to another (movements within the hydrological cycle)
eg: throughflow and runoff
what is the biggest store in the hydrological cycle?
1st - the ocean (97% of all water)
water budget meaning
the balance between inputs and outputs
what is the cryosphere
frozen water
what stores are classed as non renewable (not replaced for a very long time)
fossil water (stored underground in rocks a long time ago when the climate was a lot wetter) Ablation (melting of glaciers due to climate change reducers ice storage which is not replaced)
what is blue water
within surface and groundwater reservoirs
what is a positive water budget?
where there is a surplus of water
what does a negative water budget mean?
there is a deficit of water
what does the global water budget mean?
annual balance between the fluxes and size of water stores
what are the three types of precipitation
Orographic / relief
Frontal / cyclonic
Convectional
what is Orographic/ relief precipitation?
humid air is forced over mountains the air cools at higher altitude moisture condenses forms clouds water droplets fall due to gravity
what is frontal /cyclonic precipitation?
warm air (lighter) is forced to rise over cold air (dencer) which undercuts the warm air
as the warm air rises it cools
the ability for it to hold water decreases
condensation occours
casues clouds and then rain
what is convectional precipitation?
(common in tropical areas or in UK summer)
land becomes hot
air above the land becomes warmer so expands and rises
as it rises it cools
ability to hold water vapor decreases
condensation occurs > clouds
as it continues to rise > rain
what is a cumulus cloud? and which precipitations are they found
caused by convection
all three types of precipitation contain cumulus clouds
types of flows/fluxes are:
Interception infiltration throughflow direct/ surface runoff saturated overland flow percolation groundwater flow
Direct runoff
Water flowing over the surface of the ground eg. after precipitation or snowmelt/ when the rain is to intemce for it to infiltrate
Interception
a layer of vegetation intercepts precipitation before the ground
plants also absorb water through their roots
what is green water
water transpired by the plant that comes from rain water stored in soil
Staurated overland flow
is all siol spaces are full of water so any further rain cannot infiltrate so will run off the surface
Throughflow
Water moving horizontally through the soil, due to gravity
Percolation
movemnet of water downwards through pourous or permuble rocks
pourus meaning
Sedimentary rocks often contain small holes called pores which can contain water or other fluids
permuble rocks include
sandstone and chalk
Groundwater flow
movment of water downwards or sideways in rock layers
under the influence of gravity and rock structure
types of outputs are (3)
Evaporation
Traspiration
Channel flow
