2012 Water: “Our Source of Life�
In This Magazine: The Water cycle Effects on Climatic Patterns Surface covered by water Salt water Fresh water Underground Sources Glaciers
Ma. Fernanda Mancheno
Table of Contents… The Water Cycle…………………………………. 3 Evaporation……………………………………….. 4 Condensation…………………………………….. 5 Precipitation………………………………………. 6 Surface Run-Off…………………………………... 7 Percolation………………………………………... 8 Effects on Climatic Patterns……………………. 9 Surface covered by water ……………….…... 10 Salt water & Oceans………………………….… 11 Oceans & Climate…………………………….… 12 Fresh Water………….…………………………..… 13 Lakes………………….………………………….... 14 Rivers…………………………………………….... 15 Underground Sources…………………………. 16 Glaciers…………………………………………... 17 Works Cited……………………………………18-19 2
The Water Cycle is also known as the hydrological cycle or as the H2o cycle because H2o is water. It describes the repeated movement of water above and underground the surface. In the water cycle, water can go through three states: liquid, vapor and gas. Water keeps going around and around and it keeps going around successively. There are five main stages in the water cycle and these stages are: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, surface run-off and percolation. These five parts happen over and over again and this is the reason of why it is called a cycle because it keeps the chain. 3
Evaporation is a type of vaporization of liquid that occurs in the surface of the liquid. Evaporation in the water cycle is when the fresh water from rivers and lakes heats and then turns into steam or vapor. This steam or vapor leaves the water and then goes in to the air. It becomes vapor or steam because the sun allows molecules to escape. This happens when the surface is of the liquid is exposed.
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Condensation is the second stage in the water cycle. Condensation is the change of state from a gaseous state to a liquid state. Condensation in the water cycle is when the vapor in the air gets cold and then into changes back into liquid forming into clouds.
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Precipitation is the third stage in the water cycle. Precipitation happens when so much water has been saturated that the air cannot hold it anymore. Clouds get heavy and water returns to the earth as: rain, hail, sleet or snow. There are 3 types of precipitation: based on whether it falls as liquid, liquid that freezes in contact with surface, or ice.
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Surface runoff is the fourth stage in the water cycle. Surface runoff is the water from rain, hail, sleet or snow that flows over the land surface. When runoff flows along ground it can pick soils components like petroleum, fertilizer, etc. It is the excess water of soils that flow over land. A point which produces runoff very often is called overland flow.
Surface Runoff
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The last stage of the water cycle is percolation. Percolation is the movement of water through soil and rock. It occurs under the root zone. Percolation helps to fill rivers and lakes. After this stage the water cycle begins over and over again.
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The water cycle is powered from solar energy. Global evaporation happens from the ocean reducing the temperature by the cool evaporation. Without this cool evaporation on the greenhouse effect would lead to have a much higher surface temperature. Also a warmer planet and will contribute with global warming. The water cycle is necessary to have a cool and fresh climate and also so that there wonâ€&#x;t be that much global warming.
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Water covers 70.9% of the Earthâ€&#x;s surface. Water is the source of live, because all living beings need it for
surviving. The 96.5% of water is found in oceans, 1.7% is found in groundwater, 1.7% in glaciers and ice caps, and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds and precipitation. 2.5% of the Earthâ€&#x;s water is freshwater and 98.8% of that water is found as ice and groundwater. Less than 0.3% of the freshwater is found in rivers, lakes and the atmosphere.
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Salt water is the water that contains significant amount of dissolved salts.
An ocean is a body of salt water and it covers the 96.5% of the Earthâ€&#x;s water. The main four oceans are: the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian,
and the Pacific. The Arctic Ocean is sometimes considered a sea of the Atlantic; it washes upon North America and Europe and Asia together. The Atlantic Ocean separates the North and South America from Europe and Africa. The Indian Ocean washes in the south of Asia and separates Africa and Australia. The Pacific Ocean separates Asia and Australia from North and South America. The International Hydrographic Organization recently created a fifth river: the Southern Ocean. This ocean is considered an extension of the Pacific,
Atlantic and Indian oceans; this river completely surrounds Antarctica. 11
The ocean affects the Earthâ€&#x;s climate by transferring heat from tropics to Polar Regions. Also oceans transfer warm or cold air and precipitation to coastal region, where winds can carry into the land. Surface heat creates global density gradients that drive to the Thermohaline circulation. The Thermohaline circulation is a part of the scale ocean circulation driven by global density gradients. It helps by supplying heat to the Polar Regions and on sea ice regulation. One of the most dramatic forms of weather that occur over oceans is the tropical cyclones which are also known as typhoons and as hurricanes.
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Freshwater is occurring on the Earth in Ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams. Also it occurs underground as groundwater. Fresh water has low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Freshwater uses the term „‟sweet water‟‟ to describe it in contrast to salt water. The source of almost all fresh water is precipitation from the atmosphere as: mist, rain and snow. 2.5% of the Earth‟s water is covered by freshwater.
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A lake is a body of fresh water of considerable size. A lake is localized in a basin; lakes are inland and they are not part of the ocean. The majority of lakes on the Earth lie in the Northern Hemisphere at higher latitudes. Most lakes have a natural outflow in the form of a river or stream. Rivers and streams maintain a lakeâ€&#x;s average level by allowing the drainage of excess water. Some lakes do not have a natural outflow and they lose water by evaporation.
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is a natural watercourse of freshwater that flows towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. Rivers are part of the hydrological cycle. Water of a river is usually collected from precipitation trough a drainage basin from surface runoff and other sources.
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river
Groundwater: Groundwater is the water located beneath the earthâ€&#x;s surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock that can yield a usable quantity of water is called an aquifer. Groundwater is recharged from flows to the surface naturally. Groundwater includes soil moisture, frozen soil, immobile water and oil formation water. Groundwater is replenished by surface water from precipitation, rivers and streams.
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A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the snow exceeds the melting and sublimation over centuries. Glaciers form on elevated land that is distinct from the sea ice and lake ice. As the snow thickens it reaches a point where it begins to move due to a combination of the surface slope and the pressure of the overlying snow.
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"Water Cycle." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 May 2012. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle>. "Condensation." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 May 2012. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condensation>. "Evaporation." Wikipedia. Web. 20 May 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporation "The Water Cycle." The Water Cycle. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://www.kidzone.ws/water/>. "What Is Evaporation? Why It Matters." What Is Evaporation? Web. 20 May 2012. <http://www.theinnovationdiaries.com/1203/what-is-evaporation/>.
"Water Cycle." Web. 20 May 2012. <http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/water.html>.
"Precipitation." Web. 20 May 2012. <http://www.grc.k12.nf.ca/climatecanada/precipfactors.htm>.
ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/s/surface_runoff.htm>. "Surface Runoff." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 May 2012. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_runoff>. "Water." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 May 2012. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water>. "Ocean." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean>.
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"Thermohaline Circulation." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 May 2012. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermohaline_circulation>.
"Freshwater." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 May 2012. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater>. "Lakes." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakes>.
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"Rivers." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers>.
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"Groundwater." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 May 2012. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundwater>. "Glaciers." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaciers>.
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