Questions - Lecture 4

Questions Based on Lecture 4
1. Draw a schematic of earth’s hydrological cycle
2. With reference to the schematic of earth’s hydrological cycle below, describe the
concept of reservoirs and flows and then discuss the imbalance between net
precipitation of land and sea.
There are four stocks (or reservoirs) of water in the earth, the land, the ocean, the continental
atmosphere and the marine atmosphere. Water flows among these reservoirs in such a way
that the water content of these reservoirs remains constant in the long term. Evaporation,
precipitation, river runoff etc. are the examples of these kinds of flows.
Net precipitation is positive over land and negative over the ocean. The excess water content
in the marine atmosphere due to net negative precipitation over oceans is transferred over
land through movement of rain-bearing clouds. This leads to net positive precipitation over
land. This excess precipitation (26 x 1015 kg/yr) returns to the ocean via river runoff from
land.
3. Discuss the process of evaporation in the global scale

Evaporation is the primary pathway that water moves from the liquid state back into the
water cycle as atmospheric water vapor. Studies have shown that the oceans, seas, lakes, and
rivers provide nearly 90 percent of the moisture in the atmosphere via evaporation.
Evaporation occurs at all temperatures, but is accelerated in places where the water
temperature is warm. The process is most efficient when the air above warm water is cold
and dry. Evaporation is often coupled with its reverse process, i.e., condensation. Thus we
generally talk about Net Evaporation, i.e., the difference between total evaporation and total
condensation.
4. Discuss the process of transpiration

Transpiration (or evapo-transpiration) is essentially evaporation of water from plant leaves.
Plants take in essential nutrients (N, P and other nutrients) from soil by taking up soil water
containing these nutrients through its roots. In order to obtain enough nutrients, plants
would take in much more water than its actual requirements. This water is released through
pores in plant leaves and evaporates. Transpiration is especially prominent the growing
season, when plants require lots of nutrients. Transpiration contributes about 10% of water
evaporation on a global scale.
5. Describe the process of cloud formation in the atmosphere

Air contains water vapor, which is invisible. When warm air rises, it expands and cools.
Once the air temperature reaches the dew point, water vapor condenses onto aerosol
particles in the air and forms a tiny droplet around each particle. When billions of these
droplets come together they become visible and are called clouds. At high altitudes such
droplets freeze into ice crystals.
6. Describe cloud types and nomenclature. Which types of clouds cause precipitation?
7. Discuss the phenomenon of precipitation

Precipitation occurs when water released from clouds in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet,
snow, or hail. It delivers of atmospheric water to the land and ocean. Most precipitation falls
as rain. The tiny water droplets (or ice crystals) in clouds ordinarily do not cause
precipitation. However, then their concentration in the cloud becomes high, these droplets
may coalesce into particle size of 2 mm or above. Such water droplets precipitate as rain or
freeze while falling resulting in freezing rail (sleet) or snowfall. Tiny ice crystals in clouds
may coalesce to form larger ice crystals which may precipitate as hail.
8. Discuss precipitation occurrence on a global scale

Most of evaporation as well as precipitation occur over the ocean, especially in the tropical
region. However, there is a net precipitation deficit over oceans. A substantial amount of
water vapor from oceans is blown over land due to prevailing winds (e.g., monsoon winds)
and cause precipitation over land. There is a surplus precipitation over land which balances
the precipitation deficit in the oceans. The excess precipitation over land ultimately flows
back to the ocean as river and groundwater discharge. This balances the hydrological cycle.
9. Discuss what happens to precipitation that falls on land

Precipitation falling on land can flow over land as surface runoff rivers and lakes.
Alternatively, the precipitation can infiltrate into the subsurface as groundwater. The
subsurface and surface flows are also interconnected, i.e., water in the subsurface can seep
into lakes and rivers and vice versa. Both surface and ground water ultimately flow to the
ocean.

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Questions Based on Lecture 4

1. Draw a schematic of earth’s hydrological cycle

3. Discuss the process of evaporation in the global scale

4. Discuss the process of transpiration

5. Describe the process of cloud formation in the atmosphere

7. Discuss the phenomenon of precipitation

8. Discuss precipitation occurrence on a global scale

9. Discuss what happens to precipitation that falls on land

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