BI423: Hydrologic Cycle and Water Aquatic Ecology Test 1

___ powers life on earth & drives the Hydrologic cycle

Solar energy

Earth is located in the "______ Zone"

Goldilocks

What is the life supporting molecule?

Liquid H2O

What does lentic mean?

No flow (i.e. Lake)

What does lotic mean?

Flowing water (i.e. rivers and streams)

The Earth is made up of what % Salt water?

98%

Water reaches maximum density near 4 C (39.2 F) and also has a high specific heat. Why are these 2 properties of water significant to aquatic ecosystems?

Nutrient turnover and H2O's ability to moderate temperature

________ moderates temperatures locally and globally

H2O

Water is not at its _______ density when solid

highest

What temp is water most dense at

4 C

What is the result of waters density properties?

Nutrient turnover

3 phases of hydrologic cycle

Precipitation, Evaporation, Surface and groundwater runoff

Over the oceans evaporation (>/

evaporation > precipitation

Over the land precipitation (>/

evaporation < precipitation

H2O stored in atmosphere

as water vapor __ days

~9

What is interception in the hydrologic cycle

the process where precipitation is caught by plant canopies, leaves, branches, or surface litter before it ever reaches the soil

What is surface runoff/overland flow?

the movement of excess water from rain, snowmelt, or other sources across the ground surface toward streams, rivers, and oceans

What is infiltration in the hydrologic cycle?

precipitation infiltrates soil becoming subsurface or vadose water (water fills pores, moving through cracks, etc.)

Where could infiltrated water percolate to?

Water Table where permeable soils are saturated (becomes ground water)

Ground water is stored ____ as soil moisture

months

How long is groundwater stored?

300+ years

what is interflow?

ground water movement into & through overlying unsaturated soils

how long can vadose/subsurface water be stored

months

Aquafers (Zone of Saturation) are stored from ______ of years as groundwater

hundreds to thousands

What is the water table?

the upper level underground where the soil and rocks are completely filled with water (how long it takes to hit water when digging)

What is vadose/subsurface water

Water in Soil / above water table

How does Vadose/subsurface water flow?

vertically (percolation via gravity) to water table or flows laterally o nearest outlet or stream drainage channel

what is H2O below water table

ground water

Why is groundwater so important for streams

Accounts for stable base flow of many streams

Groundwater, subsurface stormflow, return flow, interflow, and overland flow provides......

water for intermittent streams and base flow for permanent streams (on and off, the stream does not always flow year-round)

Evaporation _____ the surrounding environment

cools (evaporative cooling)

what happens when evaporation condenses

warms the environment

how much water returns to the atmosphere by evaporation

>80%

Much water ____ as precipitation occurs

evaporates

does intercepted h2o evaporate

yes

what is transpiration

Water moves from soil, through plant, then evaporates through leaf stomate

_____ amounts of water can be moved from soil to the atmosphere via transpiration

large

what is sublimation

solid to gas

What is evapotranspiration?

transfer H2 O from earth's surface to the atmosphere by sum of evaporation, sublimation, transpiration

How does a tree get water from the roots to the top without spending energy

transpiration

when does overland flow/surface runoff occur

whenever rate of precipitation (or melting of it) > combined rate of evapotranspiration and infiltration (i.e. heavy rainfall events)

where is overland flow/surface runoff common

arid areas, devoid or lacking in vegetation, etc

average residence time of deep ground water

10k years

average soil moisture residence time

1-2 months

average water residence time in Antarctica

20k

average water residence time for the ocean

3.2k years

atmosphere water residence time

9 days

river water residence time

2-6 months

what is climate change in regards to the hydrologic cycle

intensifying hydrologic cycle

what does global warming do

warming global temps raises ↑ upper limit of moisture

in air

what does global warming lead to

leads to greater intensity of: Heavy rain events,

Droughts, Heat waves

where is global warming strongest

stronger in Arctic, on land & in N. Hemisphere

where is the precipitation increase most due to global warming

precip. Increase most in high latitudes, tropics, and monsoon regions

where is the precipitation decrease most due to global warming

subtropics

co2 levels highest in the last ____ yrs

800,000+

most potent greenhouse gas

H2O

what human induced changed have affected the hydrologic cycle

impervious land cover

what is impervious cover

land that has been converted from a field/forest/nature to a parking lot/road/etc

what does impervious cover lead to

More runoff (stream bank erosion & incision) and Less evapotranspiration, shallow & deep infiltration

how % h2o on land

2.5%

how much h2o in rivers and air

~0.001% in rivers and 0.001% in air

____ input of water and lake basins on lake surface is a small percent of the total

precipitation

precipitation is more important to what type of lake

large, shallow lakes (e.g. lake victoria)

what is a larger input of water and lake basins

Streams, overland flow, etc.

what effects the input into water and lake basins

Largely affected by catchment basin topography, geology &

vegetation

what is a catchment basin (water basin/drainage basin)

area of land where surface water from rain, melting snow or ice

converges to a single point at a lower elevation

(usually the exit of basin or lake or some arbitrarily defined point in a river or stream)

where is groundwater seepage important

rock basins where lake extends into water table

What are open lakes

Lakes w/ water loss other than through evapotranspiration

in drainage lakes water loss is from

outlet flow

in seepage lakes water loss is from

seepage into groundwater

what causes water loss in closed lakes

Evapotranspiration only source of loss for some

lakes (and is very seasonal)

What does it mean to say that Earth is in the "Goldilocks Zone"?

earth isnt too close or far from the sun

Each water molecule can hydrogen bond to ___ other water molecules.

4

For which type of other compounds does water generally serve as the solvent?

polar

Which is the most abundant location regarding the distribution of earth's freshwater?

glaciers

The "wasteful" process by which trees/plants move water from soil through the leaf is called _____, which may lose up to 90% of water absorbed by plant into the atmosphere

transpiration

what percentage of a plants energy is spent during transpiration

0%

which location in the hydrologic cycle generally has the longest average residence time for water?

shallow ground water

Regarding the intensifying hydrologic cycle due to climate change, which shows the greatest increase (times more frequent than pre-industrial era), regardless of degrees of global warming (1-4C)?

10 yr heat waves

What is the approximate current CO2 level on earth in ppm?

420 ppm

Other than recently, how many times in the last 800,000 years has the CO2 level been over 300 ppm?

0

True or False: There is more evapotranspiration with natural ground cover. There is less shallow infiltration with high (75-100%) impervious cover.

[answer true if both statements true. answer false if any statement or both statements false.]

true

What Catchment Basin (or drainage) is UNA & Florence, AL located in?

TN

Which are the Finger Lakes of New York?

open drainage lake