Water Budgets

?
View mindmap
  • Water Budget
    • limited water for human use
      • only 2.5% of Earth's water is freshwater and 1% accessible for direct human use
        • access and quality of water differ depending on your location in the world
    • water store residence time
      • found in the oceans is stored there for longer than the short amount of time that water is held in the atmosphere
      • non-renewable stores - fossil water is the non-renewable untouched freshwater stores
        • e.g beneath deserts and polar areas - technology is allowing us to access more of this water e.g oil drilling
    • polar hydrology
      • polar area is also referred to as the cryosphere
      • very little vegetation
      • frozen in winter but thaws in summer and increase surface runoff - more evaporation
      • ice and soils thaw, biogenic gases are released into the atmosphere
    • tropical hydrology
      • high density vegetation - 50% of precipitation returned via evapotranspiration
      • rainforests are able to generate their own water cycle due to convectional rainfall
        • where the forest floor is warm and so air heats up and expands, rises and condenses into clouds
      • deforestation reduces evapotranspiration reduces precipitation levels - have to flow through rivers etc takes longer to cycle through
        • vegetation is crucial for convectional rainfall
        • rainfall is essential for all rainforest life

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Geography resources:

See all Geography resources »See all Water Cycle and Insecurity resources »