BIO 181 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Herbivore, Nitrogen Fixation, Denitrification
3 Nov 2015
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Description: water cycles from oceans, to land, and back to oceans, in a flow known as the hydrological cycle. The sun drives the hydrological cycle by providing the energy to evaporate surface waters. Most of the evaporation occurs from the oceans, and the portion of the evaporated ocean water then falls on land as precipitation. Gravity completes the hydrological cycle by driving water from the land back to the oceans via rivers, coastal runoff, and groundwater flows. Water that falls on land renews water reservoirs, with water renewal being fastest (about 4 years) in lakes and rivers, important sources of our fresh water. You can imagine the hydrological cycle as a continually operating distillation machine, evaporating water from the salty oceans and dropping fresh water back on land. Key terms: solar energy, transport over land, precipitation over land, net movement of water vapor by wind, precipitation over ocean, evaporation from ocean, evapotranspiration from land, percolation through soil, runoff and groundwater.
