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Water Science and the Environment HWRS 201 Dr. Marek Zreda

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Water Science and the Environment HWRS 201 Dr. Marek Zreda Water Science and the Environment HWRS 201 Dr. Marek Zreda [email protected] 621-4072 Harshbarger 230 Background • Where does Earth’s water come from? • Where does it go? Where is it stored? • Where does the energy for the water cycle come from? • Basic physics and chemistry of water • What is water? What are its most important properties? Understanding the water cycle • The hydrologic cycle is just another name for the water cycle. However, it is a misnomer (hydrology does not circulate, water does). • To understand the water cycle we need to study: • the components of the cycle (reservoirs); • the role that energy (mainly from the Sun) plays in the cycle; • and the flows among the different components of the cycle. In this course we’ll concentrate on the elements of the terrestrial water cycle. (That includes the role of humans.) Where did Earth’s water come from? There are several basic hypotheses: • Water came from Earth’s proto- atmosphere; • Water came from outer space; • Water came from inside Earth. These hypotheses are compatible (not mutually exclusive). Caution: distinguish between the origin of water on Earth (all bullets) from the origin of modern water at the Earth’s surface (third bullet). Where did Earth’s water come from? • Cooling of early earth may have allowed volatile components to be held in an atmosphere of sufficient pressure for the stabilization and retention of liquid water. • Water vapor may have been ejected into the atmosphere by volcanoes. • Liquid water and water vapor may have gradually leaked out of rocks containing water. • Comets, trans-Neptunium objects, or water-rich asteroids may have brought water to Earth. These hypotheses are compatible (not mutually exclusive). Possible presentation topic 1: water content of common minerals and rocks on Earth. Possible presentation topic 2: water in comets, asteroids, meteors and other celestial objects. The volcanic source Most abundant gases: Water vapor (H2O); Carbon dioxide (CO2); Sulfur dioxide (SO2). Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, HI Possible presentation topic 3: water released from different volcanoes; what is total amount per year. Earth: a perfect place for water • Once Earth cooled enough, this water vapor condensed into liquid. • Other planets are either too hot for water vapor to remain in their atmospheres (Mercury) or too cold for it to exist as liquid (Mars) • Earth is a perfect place for water. Possible presentation topic 4: Water on other planets and moons in the Solar system. Possible presentation topic 5: Water in other star systems (planetary systems). The water cycle The water cycle is the set of processes that control the circulation of water on Earth. Primary processes involved in the water cycle are: • Evaporation and transpiration • Precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, …) • Infiltration and groundwater flow • Surface runoff Solar energy drives the water cycle • The sun is the source of most energy on earth. • It’s the driver of another of Earth’s great cycles: the energy cycle. • Evaporation is the main component of the energy cycle that affects the water cycle. About 24% of the solar radiation reaching the earth is released by evaporating water. Elements of the water cycle The water cycle consists of reservoirs where water is stored and processes that move water between reservoirs. Reservoirs: oceans, ground water, lakes, rivers, marshes, the atmosphere, polar ice, glaciers, biomass, snowpack, soil moisture Processes (flows): precipitation, canopy interception, snowmelt, runoff, infiltration, groundwater flow, evaporation, transpiration, sublimation, atmospheric transport, condensation (in clouds and fog) Environmental reservoirs Oceans Ground water Soil moisture Polar ice sheets Other ice and snow Lakes Marshes Rivers Biological water Atmospheric water Human reservoirs and processes Reservoirs Processes Surface storage (dams) Agricultural irrigation Groundwater recharge Agricultural diversions Groundwater pumping Wastewater treatment Legal and management framework Distribution of Earth’s water Possible presentation topic 6: Largest (area or volume) lakes on Earth – a survey. Quantities of water in reservoirs • The quantity of water in a reservoir is measured as a volume. • On large scales (for example global) volumes are frequently stated in cubic kilometers, which we write as km3, or thousands of km3. • On smaller scales it might be cubic centimeters (cm3) or cubic meters (m3) or liters (L, pictured below). Note: Sometimes you will see amount of water expressed in terms of mass. Because the water density is 1 g/cm3 (or 1 kg/L, or 1000 kg/m3), it is easy to convert volume to mass or mass to volume. Units of volume and flow (flux) in hydrology Volume Flow (flux) Cubic meter, m3 Cubic meter per second, m3/s Cubic foot, cf, ft3 Cubic foot per second, cfs US gallon, gal US gallon per second, gps Cubic km, km3 Cubic km per second, km3/s Acre-foot, ae-ft (or AF) Acre-foot per year, ae-ft/y Quantities of water in selected reservoirs Reservoir Volume of water % total water % fresh water (km3) [fresh water is shown in blue] Oceans 1,338,000,000 96.5 ----- Groundwater Fresh 10,530,000 0.76 30 Salty 12,870,000 0.93 ----- Soil moisture 16,000 0.0012 0.05 Polar ice 24,000,000 1.7 68.6 Glaciers and snow 341,000 0.025 1 Lakes Fresh 91,000 0.007 0.26 Salty 85,400 0.006 ----- Marshes 12,000 0.0009 0.03 Rivers 2,100 0.0002 0.006 Biological water 1,100 0.0001 ----- Atmospheric water 13,000 0.001 0.04 Total water 1,386,000,000 100 Total fresh water 35,000,000 2.5 100 Source: UNESCO,1978 (modified; also, numbers rounded). Possible presentation topics – see next page. Possible presentation topic 7: percentage of total biological water in different biological groups (terrestrial plants, plankton, bacteria, mammals, humans, etc). Possible presentation topic 8: types and amounts of water in different terrestrial plants. Possible presentation topic 9: water in human bodies – how much (in %) in a whole body; how much in different parts of body. Take away: reservoirs • Most of Earth’s water (96.5%) is in the oceans. • It can’t be drunk directly. It’s not potable. • Removing the salt (desalinization) is expensive. • The polar icecaps and glaciers contain most of Earth’s fresh water (68.6% of all fresh water). • The icecaps are far away from consumers and therefore not useful. • Most of the rest is in ground water (30% of all fresh water). • We have to pump ground water to get it. • It is expensive. • The amount in rivers and lakes is small (0.27% of all fresh water). • Using it usually requires storage behind dams, i.e., in reservoirs. • They cost a lot too. • Our freshwater reserves are small and precious. Processes, reservoirs and traffic Processes move water between reservoirs. • For instance, precipitation moves water from the atmosphere to the land surface and the oceans. • We also say water flows from the atmosphere to the land surface through the process of precipitation. • This is also sometimes called an exchange. • Such flows are measured as the volume of water flowing between one reservoir and another during a given time. • For instance km3 per year, liters per minute, etc. • You’re familiar with measuring the flow of traffic. • That’s the number of cars that go by a point in a given amount of time. • For instance, number of cars per day. Processes, reservoirs and traffic To continue the analogy with cars… • Processes are like traffic, moving water (cars) from place to place • Reservoirs are like parking lots, carports, metered parking, etc. • Cars stay in them for a while • And cars stay in them for different amounts of time • For instance, cars often stay in airport parking longer than they do in parking spaces on the street • In hydrology, we call the time that water stays in a reservoir its residence time • Different reservoirs have different residence times Balances of flows The net flow into most reservoirs at the global scale (!) in a year is zero! Reservoir Annual inflow amount Annual outflow amount (1000 km3) (1000 km3) Oceans Return flow 1 Evaporation 426 Surface runoff 40 Precipitation 385 TOTAL 426 TOTAL 426 Land surface Precipitation 111 Evapotranspiration 71 Surface runoff 40 TOTAL 111 TOTAL 111 Atmosphere Evapotranspiration 71 Land precipitation 111 Ocean evaporation 426 Ocean precipitation 385 Return flow to ocean 1 TOTAL 497 TOTAL 497 How long does water molecule stay in a reservoir? Consider two reservoirs: (1) one small, volume 1 km3 (2) one large, volume 1000 km3. Both reservoirs receive the same inflow of water: 10 km3/y (and the same amount flows out in one year). Which reservoir is replenishing (changing its water) more quickly? In more formal terms: Which reservoir has a shorter residence time for water? Residence time • Since water is continually flowing through a reservoir, we’re interested in how long it stays in it. • This amount of time on average is the residence time. • The residence time varies with the reservoir. • Water stays in the ocean a lot longer than it does in the atmosphere. • We can estimate the average residence time RT in a reservoir by comparing the flow Q in (or out) of the reservoir to the total volume V of water contained in the reservoir: RT = V / Q where: V is in units of volume, L3, for example m3 Q is in units of flow rate, L3/T, for example m3/s and the resulting RT has, obviously, the units of time, T, here seconds. Reservoirs and residence times Reservoir Average residence time Antarctic ice sheet 20,000 years Oceans 3,800 years Glaciers 20 years – 100 years Seasonal snow cover 2 months – 6 months Soil moisture 1 month – 2 months Ground water (shallow) 100 years – 200 years Ground water (deep) 10,000 years Lakes 50 years – 100 years Rivers 2 months – 6 months Atmosphere 9 days Possible presentation topic 10: Residence times in selected small reservoirs (other than those in table).
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