ELSS L15 - Changes in the water cycle
- Created by: Hadley023
- Created on: 08-11-18 10:29
View mindmap
- Changes in the water cycle
- Diurnal
- Significant changes occur within a 24-hour period in the water cycle.
- Lower temps at night reduce evaporation and transpiration.
- Convectional precipitation (dependent on direct heating of the ground surface by the Sun) is a daytime phenomenon often falling in the afternoon when temps reach a maximum.
- Seasonal
- Seasons are controlled by variations in the intensity of solar radiation.
- In the UK, solar radiation intensity peaks in mid-June.
- These variations are exaggerated the further away from the equator that you are.
- Transpiration will be highest during the summer months.
- River flows are at their lowest in the late summer in England.
- In summer, large trees = increase interception. In winter, decrease interception, increased runoff and increase river flow.
- Long-term
- Water cycle undergoes many changes during glacial periods. Most obvious is the net transfer of water from the ocean reservoir to storage in ice sheets, glaciers and permafrost.
- During glacials, sea level falls 100-300m which exposes the continental shelf. Ice sheets expand to cover a third of the continental land mass.
- As ice sheets advance towards the equator, they destroy extensive tracts of forest and grassland.
- Water stored in the biosphere will shrink. Lower temps will lead to lower rates of transpiration.
- Diurnal
Comments
No comments have yet been made