Hydrosphere free essay sample

The hydrosphere is the liquid water component of the Earth and it refers to all water found on, under, or over the surface of a planet. Often called the â€Å"water sphere†, it includes all the earth’s water found in the oceans, glaciers, streams, lakes, soil, groundwater, and in the air. The hydrosphere covers about 70% of the surface of the Earth with 97% sea water and 3% fresh water. b.Hydrologic Cycle: The hydrological cycle is the endless circulation of water molecules transferring from the oceans and the land surface into the atmosphere by evaporation, dropped on the land as precipitation, and transferred back to the sea by rivers and groundwater. It is the constant movement of water through the earth system. c. Cryosphere: The cryosphere is the frozen water part of the Earth system. It is the scientific name for all the frozen water on the Earth’s surface: ice caps, glaciers, sea ice, land ice, frozen lakes, snow, permafrost, etc. It also plays a vital role in the earth’s climate. 2. Using the video tour of the Cryosphere list 5 important facts about water content and Antarctica. -Antarctica contains 90% of the Earth’s ice 70% of the fresh water. -Antarctica ice averages 2. 7 kilometers thick 4. 8 kilometers in some places. -Ice shelves hold 2% of Antarctic ice but cover 50% of the coastline. -Ocean currents and surface winds drive icebergs northward. -Snowfall provides more than 75% of water resources in the West. -Permafrost covers 18% of exposed land in the Northern Hemisphere. Altogether, the world’s ice sheets contain 77% of the global total of fresh water. 3. List the 8 areas where water is stored on the planet and give their percentages. -The world’s oceans contain 97. 2% of the water in the hydrosphere 2. 8% of it is freshwater -Ice caps and glaciers contain 2. 15% of the world’s water -Groundwater contains 0. 63% -Freshwater lakes contain 0. 009% -The Atmosphere contains 0. 001% -Soil water contains 0. 005% -Streams contain 0. 001% -Saline lakes and inland seas contain 0. 008% 4. Explain in a number of paragraphs how the water cycle works.The sun heats the waters of the ocean by radiation, causing it to evaporate from the ocean’s surface into the air as vapour. The water vapor is carried into the atmosphere by rising currents. At higher altitudes the temperature is cooler. This causes the water vapor to undergo condensation to become clouds. When clouds reach saturation and become too heavy, precipitation is formed as rain or snow. Precipitation that falls onto land instead of back into the ocean flows over the ground as surface runoff, and moves with gravity and the natural geography of the area on which it falls. Some of the runoff enters rivers, and the stream flow moves this water towards the ocean. Other surface runoff waters and the ground waters that do not move, seep into the ground, and can accumulate to become stored as freshwater lakes. Precipitation that soaks into the ground is referred to as infiltration, which can percolate through the ground to the aquifers that store freshwater underground. Some of this water stays close to the land surface, while some seeps back into surface-water bodies as ground-water discharge. When these waters find an opening in the land surface it is called a freshwater spring.Ground waters can also be taken up by plants by their root systems. When water is evaporated out of the leaf surfaces of plants, it is called transpiration. 5. Using the site World Water Council site, explain three important ways to improve the fresh water situation the world’s population. (World Water Council site was not working correctly for me, so used different site. ) One solution is to use the technology of desalinization. This system is described as filtering salty water through membranes and removing the salt through electrodialysis and reverse osmosis.Saline water can be made into freshwater, which everyone needs. The process is called desalination, and it is being used more and more around the world to provide people with needed freshwater. To date, desalination has been an energy-intensive solution to water scarcity. Another way to improve the freshwater situation around the world is to control population growth. Because of the accelerating growth in global population, parts of the world could see a supply-demand gap of up to 65 percent in water resources by 2030.Currently, more than one billion people don’t have access to clean water. And with 70 percent of the world’s freshwater used for agriculture, water’s critical role in food production must be considered as climate and resource conditions change. Improving irrigation and agricultural practices will also help the current situation of water. Some 70 percent of the world’s freshwater are used for agriculture. Improving irrigation can help close supply and demand gaps. Raising prices in developed and high income countries will also help the situation as consumption of water will be reduced.According to the Pacific Institute the average American uses about 70 gallons of water per day while the average Gambian uses about 1 gallon per day and the average European is somewhere in the middle. The Institute estimates that we probably all need about 13 gallons per day to have a good standard of living. 6. Using the video Water Shortage explain the water problems that exist on 5 major continents. (explain a problem from each continent. Asia: They have 60% of the world’s population but they only have 36% of the world’s water. Control of water can be problematic.Israel controls the water in the West Bank and Palestinians now have water problems. 80% of West Bank is consumed by Israelis. Water is hard to come by in some villages but there is a huge Israeli irrigation project in the north of the country. There are water conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries. In the face of rising populations, rapid growth of the middle class, expanding irrigation and water-intensive industries, and spiraling household consumption, per capita water availability in Asia is actually declining by 1. 6% per year. Africa: Africa is facing the greatest challenges over water.Lack of access to water is a larger problem in Africa than anywhere else. Of the 25 nations in the world with the greatest percentage of people lacking access to safe drinking water, 19 are in Africa. A UN report predicts that in 25 years more than half of this continents population will be living in countries suffering as what’s known as water stress. There is violence at the local level for water. Resources are scarce and more than 50 people are killed in the north of Kenya in fighting over water. North America: In Mexico City, most of the water problems are manmade.Some buildings even sunk as water is being sucked from under the city. Another problem is that 40% of all water supplies disappear through leaky pipes. 1 in 4 people in Mexico City no longer has access to fresh piped water. But, though a general abundance of water exists in the region, some areas commonly experience water shortages. Australia: Australia is the world’s driest continent and it is currently in a terrible drought. They can’t get water as the countries major river system, the Murray-Darling Basin, which irrigates Australia’s food bowl, is in bad shape. Some parts of the Basin are facing an ecological disaster because of the lack of rainfall. Cities and municipalities are having a lot of problems. Europe: The distribution of water resources in Europe is far from even, and is beginning to be the source of some significant problems. Many parts of Europe do not have as much water as they need. In 60% of European urban and industrial areas, water resources are overexploited. Spain is in the grip of drought and thousands of farmers have left their lands and farms. Some places have an abundance of water and some places do not.