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Processes of the water cycle - Coggle Diagram
Processes of the water cycle
Water balance equation
Precipitation (P) = Evapotranspiration (E) + Streamflow (Q) +/- Storage
Flows (role is to link the stores): precipitation, evaporation, transpiration, run-off, infiltration, percolation and throughflow (7)
Precipitation: Forms when vapour in the atmosphere reaches its dew point and so condenses into small water droplets or ice particles to form clouds.
These droplets or ice particles aggregate, reach a critical size and then leave the cloud as precipitation
Precipitation varies in character -
Whilst run-off from rainfall may be rapid, precipitation falling as snow fall may mean there's a considerable lag between snowfall and run-off
Intensity: high-density precipitation moves rapidly because it falls at a capacity that exceeds the soil's infiltration capacity
Duration: prolonged events may cause the oversaturation of soils, overland flow and potential flooding
When precipitation is concentrated seasonally, like in the Mediterranean, there are high levels of river discharge that can often lead to flooding and during periods of low precipitation, rivers may cease altogether
Transpiration: diffusion of water vapour into the atmosphere through the leaf pores of plants
Influenced by the temperature and wind speed and water availability in plants
Condensation: cloud formation
Types of clouds
Cumuliform
Stratiform
Cirrus
Formation of clouds: cooling of the air to condense occurs when
Warm air rises and as it moves through the atmosphere, the pressure falls and the air cools by expansion (adiabatic expansion)
Air masses move horizontally across a cooler surface (advection)
Air masses rise as they cross a mountain barrier
Warm air mixes with cooler air
Lapse rates: vertical distribution of temperature in the lower atmosphere and the subsequent temperature changes occurring within an air parcel
Environmental lapse rate (ELR): Vertical temperature profile of lower atmosphere. Temp. falls by 6.5 degrees Celsius/km
Dry adiabatic lapse rate (DALR): rate at which parcel of dry air cools. 10 degrees Celsius/km.
Saturated adiabatic lapse rate (SALR): Rate at which a saturated parcel of air cools. 7 degrees celsius/km.
Catchment hydrology
Evaporation
Infiltration, groundwater flow, run off, throughflow
Interception
Cryospheric processes