GLOBAL WATER CYCLE (FUNDAMENTAL, THEORY, MECHANISMS)

2699

Water vapor over land 3 Evapotranspiration 75 Precipitation 115 Glaciers and snow 24 064

Net water Vapor flux Transport 40

Water vapor over sea 10

Evaporation 431 Biological water 1 Lakes 176 Precipitation 391 Marshes 11 Rivers 2

Permafrost 300 Soil moisture 17 Groundwater 23 400

Runoff 40

Sea 1 338 000

Flux in 1015 kg year1

State variable in 1015 kg

Figure 2 A diagram of the various uxes and reservoirs within the hydrologic cycle with their yearly average magnitudes (Oki, 1999). The magnitudes given are approximate, and differ from other authors. For example, see Chahine (1992); Figure 1 for comparison

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Figure 3 A conceptual diagram of the hydrologic cycle (after Wisler and Brater, 1959)

deposits. This comprises the ice sheets, ice shelves, ice caps and glaciers, sea ice, seasonal snow cover, lake and river ice, seasonally frozen ground, and permafrost. In many mid-latitude regions, winter precipitation falls as snow and

remains on the ground for months. During spring and summer, melting snow sustains river ow during much of the period of greatest human demand. Natures mountain snow is a water storage facility greater than any storage ever

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