The Water CycleBy: Alex Jasukaitis, Alec Socha, Zach Pickell

Hour: 1, AP Environmental Science10-15-15

aquifer

Sublimation

Watershed

Evaporation- Water transforming from a liquid state to a gaseous state.

Evapotranspiration- Evaporation of water through the stoma openings in plants

Condensation- Water transforming from a gaseous state to a liquid state

Sublimation - transference of a solid directly to a gas. It’s an endothermic process that only occurs at temperatures and pressures below a substance's triple point.

Precipitation- Any sort of water that falls from the condensed water in the sky

Run Off- Water that collects materials by flowing on top of it and gathering

Infiltration/Percolation- The slow movement of water through porous or permeable materials such as some rocks and soil.

Aquifer- A collection of ground water( Like an underground lake)

Water Table- The highest point underground that an aquifer reaches

Watershed- All of the land in a given landscape that drains into a particular body of water (DeRiemaker).

Effect on the Food Web

~Water affects the amount of vegetation grown in area (Limiting Factor)

-Desert or rainforest

-The amount of species

~ It changes the type of vegetation and animals

-Depending on where in the cycle they are

~No trees

-dry(sahara), run off of nurtients

All Organisms Require Water for Life!

Effects of the Water cycle

Atmosphere -

• water vapor (37.5 million billion gallons)

• Most powerful greenhouse gas (95%)

• Creates a positive feedback loop (warmer air holds more water)

• Doubles amount of temperature change that CO2 causes

• Relatively short lived effect since it depends on weather patterns.

• Precipitation into

• Ocean

• Over land

Effects of the Water cycle• Hydrosphere -

• Creates thermocline and Halocline (Underwater currents)

• Could cause floods or droughts

• Lowering the water table

• depletion/percolation of an aquifer

• Precipitation refills the hydrosphere

• Without evapotranspiration the climate would dry out.

• Creates different bodies of water, Fresh, Salt, or estuaries.

• Creates Polar icecap ecosystem(density)

Effects of the Water cycle

Geosphere -

• Can create structures in the ground (Grand Canyon)

• erosion

• deposition

• Cleans the water cycle in marshes and wetlands

• Causes nutrients to diffuse into trees and plants

• Can have minerals dissolve into water.

• can be bad because of runoff and contamination

• Can even create land structures (Tufa)

Humans Effect on the Water Cycle• Lowering water table

• Sink holes

• depletes aquifers (can harm local ecosystems)

• Well water prices can rise since it's estimated that there are “3.1 million cubic miles of saline water but only 2.6 cubic miles of fresh underground water” (usgs).

• Water Power (hydroelectric power)

• can cause drought downstream coastal erosion

• Irrigation - depletes rivers and lakes, possibly harming wildlife.

• leaching runoff contaminates water cycle harming ecosystems.

• GLOBAL WARMING - melts polar ice caps and is causing sea level change and mild temperature change(underwater currents)

• Anthropogenic H20 in the atmosphere

Humans Effect on the Water Cycle• Destroying wetlands(Prevents natural decontamination)

• Run off can destroy ecosystems through hypoxia

• Deforestation - less evapotranspiration, so less precipitation (ie drought)

• Silver Lake dunes (Sand will eventually destroy lake)

• Human cities (concrete) blocks infiltration/percolation

• Can contaminate H20 during/after mining (Fracking, Drilling, Dredging/EPA)

Our Water Cycle

Work Cited1. http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html

2. https://www.skepticalscience.com/water-vapor-greenhouse-gas.htm

3. http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/oceanography/ocean-earth-system/ocean-water-cycle/

4. http://water.usgs.gov/edu/gwdepletion.html

5. http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/gornitz_02/

6. http://sciencelearn.org.nz/Contexts/H2O-On-the-Go/Science-Ideas-and-Concepts/Humans-and-the-water-cycle\

7. http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v19/n1s/full/scientificamericanearth0309-32.html

8. Chapter 3 Notes Mrs.DeRiemaker