WATER and CLIMATE

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WATER and CLIMATE

• Unit 8

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Climate

• Long term weather.
• Effects type of vegetation, landscape, crops, and
  animals.
• Most important natural resource.

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Water Cycle

• recycling of water also known as the hydrologic
  cycle.
• Solar E is needed to fuel the process. The
  changing of liquid water to a gas.
• Ultimate source of all water are the oceans.

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What happens to water as it hits land?

• Water retention- stored or retained on the
  surface. Snow or Ice
• Infiltrate/seep- sinks into Earths lithosphere.
  (subsurface H2O).
• Runoff- flows over the surface.

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What effects infiltration?

• Slope of the land- steeper the slope the less
  infiltration.
• Degree of Saturation- the more saturated the
  surface the less will infiltrate. (Zone of
  saturation) (Zone of aeration). Where they meet
  is called the water table. All water below H2O
  tabel is ground water.

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Infiltration cont.

• Porosity- of open space in a material compared
  to its total volume. The greater the porosity
  the greater the infiltration.
• Shape- well rounded materials have a greater
  porosity.
• Packing- the tighter it is packed the less the
  porosity and infiltration.
• Sorting- if all the particles in a material are
  the same size they are sorted. The more unsorted
  the less porosity.

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Infiltration cont.

• Permeability- the ability of a material to allow
  fluids through.
• Capillarity- during infiltration, some water is
  stopped from moving downward by the attractive
  force between the H2O and the earth material.
  This may cause water to move upwards against
  gravity. Small particle sizes promote capillary
  migration. (plants)

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IN. Cont.

• Vegetation- grasses, trees, and other plants
  intercept water and temporarily hold it on
  Earths surface. The reduced speed gives the
  ground more time to absorb the water.
• Land Use- roads, parking lots, and buildings
  cause ground to be impermeable. Rain water is
  channeled into streams or drainage pipes.

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What affects Runoff and Stream Discharge

• Runoff CAN occur when
• the rate of precipitation exceeds the
  permeability rate of Earths surface.
• Space between rock is saturated.
• Slope is too great.
• Water on the surface has not evaporated or
  sublimed.
• The greater the runoff, the greater the stream
  discharge.

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Flooding

• When a stream overflows its normal channel or
  banks.
• Precipitation exceeds the ability of the ground
  to infiltrate the water.

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Climate

• The overall view of a regions weather- over tens
  to thousands of years.
• 2 major aspects- temp. and moisture.

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Temperature Moisture

• Average temp. over the year.
• Range of average monthly temp.- average
  difference between the average temp. of the
  hottest month and the coldest month.

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Factors Affecting Climate

• Latitude
• Wind and pressure belts
• Oceans, large bodies of water
• Ocean currents
• Mountains
• Elevation
• Amount of cloud cover
• Vegitation
• Many of these factors may interact to determine
  climate.

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Prevailing Winds

• Movements of air over Earths surface that blow
  in the same direction most of the time.

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Surface Ocean Currents

• Flowing away from equator brings warm currents.
• Cool currents cause cooler temps. And less
  precipitation.

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Elevation

• As air rises it expands and cools.
• Another reason high elevations are cooler, fewer
  greenhouse gases.
• There is more precipitation at higher altitudes.

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Mountains

• Mountains can intercept wind patterns.
• The side that gets hit with the wind is the
  windward side. Air is forced to rise and cools,
  resulting in condensation and clouds. This is
  the side that receives precipitation.
• Leeward side- air descends, warms. The warming
  brings the air temp. above the dewpoint.
  Precipitation stop.
• Leeward side is warmer than windward.

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Vegitation

• Determined by climate.
• Vegetation can also help determine climate. If
  large sections of a rain forest are cut down the
  area may become more arid or dry, because more
  runoff can occur and less water is being
  evaporated into the air.

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Cloud Coverage

• If an area tends to have a lot of cloud coverage
  the resulting temp. will be much less than if
  there were few cloudy days.
• The equator is NOT the hottest place on Earth.
  This area tends to be covered by storm clouds
  that dont allow insolation through to the
  surface.