The Water Cycle
The Water Cycle is the thing that keeps everything alive. Without it, we wouldn't have rain, puddles to play in while it's raining, or even a natural water filtering system! Point is, the water cycle is very important and has a lot of important processes.
There are about 6 universally known processes. These processes are known as; Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation, Transpiration, Infiltration, and Surface Run-off.
Infiltration involves water trickling through particles of soil and rocks. Permeable layers are large pores which allows water to flow easily. Ex: Sand and gravel. Impermeable layers have few to no holes for water to pour through. Ex: Clay and Granite.
River Basins and Watersheds are another thing that goes along with the water cycle. A River Basin is an area of land where Runoff flows into a single river. A Watershed is a smaller area of land that drains Runoff into a stream or creek. Note that there can be many Watersheds in a River Basin.
There are about 6 universally known processes. These processes are known as; Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation, Transpiration, Infiltration, and Surface Run-off.
Infiltration involves water trickling through particles of soil and rocks. Permeable layers are large pores which allows water to flow easily. Ex: Sand and gravel. Impermeable layers have few to no holes for water to pour through. Ex: Clay and Granite.
River Basins and Watersheds are another thing that goes along with the water cycle. A River Basin is an area of land where Runoff flows into a single river. A Watershed is a smaller area of land that drains Runoff into a stream or creek. Note that there can be many Watersheds in a River Basin.
Water Quality is a fairly simple process to explain. It's the measure of how good the water is (whether it's basic or acidic, or able to carry living organisms healthily). There are two main kinds of pollution. Point Source Pollution and Nonpoint Source Pollution. Point Source Pollution is pollution that has an obvious source. An example would be an oil drum laying sideways with oil pouring into the water. Nonpoint Source Pollution is pollution that you cannot pin a single source to the pollution. An example would be runoff. You can't blame a single person for runoff because everyone does it at one point and the rain washing other chemicals off the road and into rivers as well. There are also other different kinds of pollution such as Thermal pollution, Eutrophication, and Ocean Acidification.
Thermal Pollution is when companies such as Nuclear Power plants use water to cool off their machines then dump it back into lakes or rivers. This kills the fish and plants because they are meant to survive in cold water.
Eutrophication is when excess nitrogen runoff flows into small ponds and makes an algal bloom. Algal blooms are large amounts of algae that grows. Because of the large amount of algae covering the surface of the water, sunlight and oxygen cannot get to the water, which makes the fish die and plants die.
Ocean Acidification is when the ocean absorbs too much of CO2 that comes from burning fossil fuels. This makes the pH go down in the water which kills shellfish and all kinds of corals.
Thermal Pollution is when companies such as Nuclear Power plants use water to cool off their machines then dump it back into lakes or rivers. This kills the fish and plants because they are meant to survive in cold water.
Eutrophication is when excess nitrogen runoff flows into small ponds and makes an algal bloom. Algal blooms are large amounts of algae that grows. Because of the large amount of algae covering the surface of the water, sunlight and oxygen cannot get to the water, which makes the fish die and plants die.
Ocean Acidification is when the ocean absorbs too much of CO2 that comes from burning fossil fuels. This makes the pH go down in the water which kills shellfish and all kinds of corals.
OCean CurrentsThere are two types of ocean currents. Surface currents and Deep Water currents. Surface currents are caused by the global winds, rotation of earth, and the Coriolis Effect. It's less salty, and is less dense than Deep Water currents. Deep Water currents are caused by differing densities due to temperature and salinity. This basically means that the Deep Water currents are different because with the temperature and the larger amount of salt, it is a lot saltier (obviously) and a lot denser.
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Salinity is simply the amount of salt in the water.
Salt Water Intrusion is when salt water is introduced to a freshwater system or aquifer. |
USA CurrentsIn the USA, there are two very significant currents called the California Current and the Gulf Stream. The California Current goes by California bringing ice cold water from the arctics. With the cold water comes great white sharks, who love cold water. California's waters isn't all that, it's actually really cold and to outsiders, it seems freezing. On the other side of the USA is the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream brings warm water from the tropics. This means that we (In North Carolina and Virginia) don't have great white sharks.
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These two USA ocean currents influence our climate along the coasts.
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El Nino and La Nina
Normal conditions usually include; the trade winds being clockwise, the Eastern Pacific is cool and dry, and the Western Pacific is warm, moist, and stormy.
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El Nino and La Nina are both events that differ from normal conditions within the atmosphere around the Pacific ocean.
El Nino is the big bad. The mob boss that no one likes. He weakens the trade winds and reverses them. He also makes the Eastern Pacific warm, moist, and stormy. He can last for 2-3 years and sometimes brings drought or flooding. La Nina on the other hand is way completely different. She is the beautiful girl that everyone wants and admires. She strengthens the trade winds in the right way and increases upwelling (this helps the fish because it brings nutrients up to the surface. This also gives good fishing). She also makes the Eastern Pacific cold and dry, which is ideal conditions for the air around the ocean. |