ENVIRSC 1C03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Surface Runoff, Hygroscopy, Transpiration
3 Sep 2018
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Unit #1: land and the global water balance. Water on earth in all its forms represents 1. 4 billion km^3. Only a fraction of earth"s water supply flows freely at the surface. Freshwater is mostly found in ice sheets glaciers, and groundwater. On a yearly basis, only a fraction of the total amount of water moves in the earth"s system. The exchange of water between the atmosphere, land and ocean is ultimately balanced. Residence time: is the amount of time water spends in a given compartment of the earth"s system. Times vary from as little as 1 week for water found in living organisms (biospheric water) to as much as. Once rainwater reaches the land it can: be evaporated, transpired by plants, percolate into the ground, flow over land as runoff. When water percolates and seeps into the ground it becomes groundwater. Watertable: is the underground depth at which the ground is totally saturated with water.
