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Geog - Water and Carbon Cycles > Water - On Earth > Flashcards

Water - On Earth Flashcards

1
Q

What is the hydrosphere?

A

Water close to, or on the Earth’s surface.

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2
Q

How much water is in the hydrosphere?

A

1.338 X 10^9 km^3.

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3
Q

How much of the hydrosphere is oceanic water?

A

Around 97%.

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4
Q

How much of the hydrosphere is fresh water?

A

3%.

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5
Q

What does fresh water include?

A

Cryospheric water, terrestrial water, and atmospheric water.

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6
Q

What are some examples of cryospheric water?

A

Land ice, glaciers, permafrost.

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7
Q
A
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8
Q

What are some examples of terrestrial water?

A

Groundwater, lakes, soil, wetland, rivers, biomass.

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9
Q

What are some examples of atmospheric water?

A

Water vapour.

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10
Q

How much water vapour is in the atmosphere?

A

12,900 km cubed.

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11
Q

True or false, the amount of water in the hydrospheric stores is in dynamic equillibrium?

A

True.

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12
Q

How much water is stored in oceanic water?

A

Between 1,320,000,000 to 1,370,000,000 km cubed.

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13
Q

How much of the Earth’s surface does oceanic water cover?

A

Around 72%.

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14
Q

How much of Earth’s water does the ocean contain?

A

97%.

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15
Q

Around how much of the ocean has been discovered?

A

Around 5%.

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16
Q

What is the average pH of oceanic water?

A

8.14 making it alkaline.

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17
Q

What is the significance of salt in oceanic water?

A

The dissolved salts decrease the water’s freezing point allowing it to stay liquid below 0 degrees.

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18
Q

What has the pH in oceanic water fallen from in the past 250 years?

A

8.25 to 8.14.

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19
Q

What causes the change in pH in oceanic water?

A

The increase in atmospheric carbon.

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20
Q

What are the 5 locations of cryospheric water and give examples?

A

Sea Ice - Ross Ice Shelf.
Permafrost - Alaska North Slope.
Alpine Glaciers - Mar De Glace, France.
Ice Sheets - Greenland Ice Sheet.
Ice Caps - Iceland Ice Cap.

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21
Q

How does sea ice form?

A

When water in the oceans is cooled to temperatures below freezing.

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22
Q

Why doesn’t sea ice raise sea level when it melts?

A

Because it forms from the ocean water.

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23
Q

What are ice shelves?

A

Platforms of ice which form where ice sheets and glaciers move out onto the ocean.

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24
Q

Where do ice shelves most commonly exist?

A

In Antarctica, Greenland and the Arctic near Canada and Alaska.

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25
Q

What are icebergs?

A

Chunks of ice which break off of glaciers and ice shelves which have drifted off into the ocean.

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26
Q

What is an ice sheet?

A

A mass of glacial land ice extending more than 50,000 km squared.

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27
Q

Where are the two major ice sheets located?

A

Covering Greenland and Antarctica.

28
Q

How much of total global freshwater does the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets contain?

A

99%.

29
Q

How big is the Antarctic ice sheet?

A

Almost 14 million km squared. (Roughly the area of the USA and Mexico combined).

30
Q

How big is the Greenland ice sheet?

A

Abou 1.7 million km squared, covering most of the island of Greenland.

31
Q

Where do ice sheets form?

A

In areas where snow fall in winter does not completely melt in summer.

32
Q

How do ice sheets form?

A

Over thousands of years, layers of snow pile into thick masses of ice, growing thicker and denser as the weight of the snow compresses older layers.

33
Q

What is an ice stream?

A

Movement of ice moving through fast outlets on the coast.

34
Q

How much would global sea level rise by if the Greenland ice sheet melted?

A

6 metres.

35
Q

How much would global sea level rise by if the Antarctic ice sheet melted?

A

60 metres.

36
Q

What is an ice cap?

A

Thick layers of ice on land which are smaller than 50,000 km squared.

37
Q

What is the difference between an ice sheet and an ice cap?

A

An ice sheet is bigger than 50,000 km squared whereas an ice cap is smaller than 50,000 km squared.

38
Q

Where do ice caps more commonly form?

A

In mountainous areas.

39
Q

What is Africa’s only remaining ice cap and where is it?

A

The Furtwangler Glacier on Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

40
Q

How large is the Furtwangler Glacier?

A

60,000 m squared.

41
Q

What are alpine glaciers?

A

Thick masses of ice found in deep valleys or in upland hollows.

42
Q

Why are apline glaciers so important in the himalayas?

A

15,000 himalayan glaciers form a unique resevoir which supports perennial rivers such as the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra which in turn supply millions with water in South Asia.

43
Q

What is a perennial river?

A

A river which flows all year round.

44
Q

What is permafrost?

A

Ground which remains at or below 0 degrees for at least two consecutive years.

45
Q

What is the range for permafrost thickness?

A

Less than one metre to more than 1,500 metres

46
Q

When did most of the permafrost which exists today form?

A

During cold glacial periods including the Holocene (last 10,000 years).

47
Q

What is happening to permafrost?

A

It is melting.

48
Q

What happens when permafrost melts?

A

It releases large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane, potentially affecting global climates.

49
Q

What is surface water?

A

Free- flowing water of rivers as well as the water of ponds and lakes.

50
Q

How do rivers act as both a store and transfer of water?

A

They transfer water from the soils and the atmosphere into a single store.

51
Q

What percentage of all water is contained in a river?

A

0.0002%.

52
Q

Which river has the largest discharge?

A

The Amazon.

53
Q

What is the Amazon river’s discharge rate?

A

209,000 m^3/s. This is greater than the next seven largest independant rivers combined.

54
Q

What is a lake?

A

Collections of fresh water found in hollows and on the land surface. Generally over two hectares in area.

55
Q

What is the difference between a pond and a lake?

A

A pond is less than two hectares in area. A lake is greater than two hectares in area.

56
Q

How many lakes does Canada have which are larger than 3 km squared?

A

An estimated 31,752.

57
Q

How many lakes does Canada have?

A

Over 2 million.

58
Q

What is the largest lake on Earth?

A

The Caspian Sea.

59
Q

How old is the Caspian Sea?

A

5.5 million years old.

60
Q

What / where is the deepest lake in the world?

A

Lake Baikal in Siberia.

61
Q

What is the mean depth of Lake Baikal?

A

749m.

62
Q

How deep is the deepest point of Lake Baikal?

A

1,637m.

63
Q

How did The Ramsar Convention define wetlands?

A

‘Areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing where there is a dominance by vegetation.’

64
Q

What species type can wetlands support?

A

Aquatic and terrestrial.

65
Q
A

Geog - Water and Carbon Cycles (13 decks)

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