Water and Carbon Cycles - Key Terms

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  • Created by: lala2127
  • Created on: 28-05-19 12:37
Flow/Transfer
a form of linkage between one store/component and another that involves movement of energy or mass
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Input
the addition of matter/energy into a system
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Store/Component
a part of the system where energy/mass is stored or transformed
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System
a set of interrelated components working together towards some kind of process
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Atmospheric Water
water found in the atmosphere; mainly water vapour with some liquid water
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Crysopheric Water
the water locked up on the Earth's surface as ice
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Hydrosphere
a discontinuous layer of water at or near the Earth's surface
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Oceanic Water
the water contained in the Earth's oceans and seas but not including inland seas
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Terrestrial Water
water stored on the Earth's surface. this consists of groundwater, soil moisture, lakes, wetlands and rivers
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Condensation
the process by which water vapour changes to liquid water
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Crysopheric Processes
those processes which affect the total mass of ice at any scale
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Drainage Basin
an area of land drained by a river and its tributaries
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Evaporation
the process by which liquid water changes to a gas. this requires energy which is provided by the sun and aided by wind
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Evapotranspiration
the total output of water from the drainage basin directly back into the atmosphere
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Groundwater Flow
the slow movement of water through underlying rocks
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Infiltration
the downward movement of water from the surface into soil
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Interception Storage
the precipitation that falls on the vegetation surfaces or human-made cover and is temporarily stored on these surfaces
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Overland Flow
the tendency of water to flow horizontally across land surfaces when rainfall has exceeded the infiltration capacity of the soil and the surface stores are full to overflowing
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Percolation
the downward movement of water within the rock under the soil surface
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Run Off
all the water that enters a river channel and eventually flows out of the drainage basin
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Saturated
any water store that has reached its maximum capacity
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Stemflow
the portion of precipitation intercepted by the canopy that reaches the ground by flowing down stems, stalks or the tree trunk
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Storm Event
a rainfall period separated by dry intervals of at least 24 hours
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Rainfall Event
a rainfall period separated by dry intervals of at least 4 hours
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Throughfall
the portion of the precipitation that reaches the ground directly through gaps in the vegetation canopy
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Throughflow
the movement of water down-slope through the subsoil under the influence of gravity
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Transpiration
the loss of water from vegetation through pores on their surfaces
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Water Balance
the balance between inputs and outputs in a drainage basin
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Bankfull
the maximum discharge that a river channel is capable of carrying without flooding
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Base Flow
the normal day-to-day discharge of the river and is the consequence of slow moving soil through flow and groundwater seeping into the river channel
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Discharge
the amount of water in a river flowing past a particular point expressed as (cumecs)
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Lag Time
the time between the peak rainfall and peak discharge
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Peak Discharge
the point on a flood hydro-graph when river discharge is at its greatest
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Storm Flow
discharge resulting from storm precipitation involving both overland flow, through flow and groundwater flow
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Storm Hydro-graph
a graph of discharge of a river over the time period when the normal flow of the river is affected by a storm event
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Anthropogenic CO2
carbon dioxide generated by human activity
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Biosphere
the total sum of all living matter
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Carbon Sequestration
the capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or capturing anthropogenic CO2 from large scale stationary sources
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Carbon Sink
a store of carbon that absorbs more than it releases
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Greenhouse Gas
any gaseous compound in the atmosphere that is capable of absorbing infrared radiation, trapping heat in the atmosphere
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Lithosphere
the crust and the uppermost mantle; the hard and rigid outer layer of the Earth
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Weathering
the breakdown of rocks by a combination of weather, plants and animals
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Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
the impact on the climate from the additional heat retained due to the increased amounts of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that humans have released into the atmosphere
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Geo-sequestration
the technology of capturing greenhouse gas emissions from power stations and pumping them into underground reservoirs
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Radiative Forcing
the difference between the incoming solar energy absorbed by the Earth and energy radiated back to space
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Soil Organic Carbon (SOC)
the organic constituents in the soil: tissues from dead plants and animals
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

the addition of matter/energy into a system

Back

Input

Card 3

Front

a part of the system where energy/mass is stored or transformed

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

a set of interrelated components working together towards some kind of process

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

water found in the atmosphere; mainly water vapour with some liquid water

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
View more cards

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