Water in Earth’s Processes Study Guide

Our test will be December 17, 18, or 19,

depending on your class period.

70% of the Earth’s surface is coveredin water.

“The Blue Planet”

97% of the water on Earth is salt water.

The salt in the ocean and seas comes from weathering and erosion of rocks.

Sea water has a higher concentration of sodium chloride, NaCl (salt).

When fresh water pours into the ocean, the salinity (salt content) stays the same because water continually evaporates out of the ocean.

The oceans’ salinity is too high for humans to consume.

3% of the water on Earth is fresh water.

The greatest amount of fresh water on Earth is found in glaciers and polar ice caps.

Ice caps and glaciers make up 2%.

Groundwater makes up .9%.

Lake Superior Amazon River

Largest freshwater body on Earth Largest carrier of freshwater to the ocean

Rivers, lakes, and swamps make up .1%.

If new wells are created due to a population increase, the water table

would drop.

Threats to Our Water Supply

1. Pollution – fertilizers, pesticides, sediments, trash, oil/gasoline, chemicals pollute groundwater2. Drought – long periods of little or no rain can affect water supply and farming3. Overuse- humans are consuming too much of freshwater supply

HUMANS ARE USING TOO MUCH WATER. *The average person uses between 40 to 80 gallons of water per day.*An average family of 4 uses between 160 to 320 gallons of water per day.

The water cycle is powered by heat from the Sun. It is the continuous movement of water from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to the ocean.

The Water Cycle

Check out the difference between Earth and the sun!

Evaporation is when liquid water changes into water vapor and rises.

Heat energy from the sun causes evaporation

and transpiration.

http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/multimedia/chapter2/lesson2

See what water molecules are doing during evaporation.

Evaporation

Transpiration is evaporation of water through plant leaves.

If you were to hang a wet swimsuitto dry, the heat of the sun, the speedof the wind, and the amount of water vapor in the air (humidity) would affect the evaporation/dry time.

Transpiration

Air always contains some water vapor through evaporation. We become more aware of water vapor

when air is humid.

Condensation is when water vapor cools and changes into water droplets that cling to dust particles and form clouds in the atmosphere.

Condensation

Condensation

See what water molecules are doing during condensation.

http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/multimedia/chapter2/lesson3

Condensation

Precipitation is rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls from clouds onto the Earth’s land and oceans.

Precipitation

1. Snow- water vapor turns directly to a solid

2. Sleet- rain drops pass through a layer of freezing temperature near Earth’s surface

3. Hail- water droplets freeze around a small ice crystal

Types of Frozen Precipitation(determined by air temperature)

Snow Sleet

Hail

Percolation is the downward movement of water through pores and other spaces in soil due to gravity.

Runoff is precipitation that flows over land into streams and rivers.

Accumulation is when water gathers in large quantities such as rivers, lakes, oceans, glaciers, ice caps, and aquifers (geological formation containing groundwater.)

Where does precipitation go?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3BVa7PH_JE&list=UUJjstNDkwktHyvUdtcBfb2g&safe=active

Water Cycle Song

Ocean Motion

3 types

Currents

Waves

Tides

2 types

Surface Currents

Caused by

Deep Currents

“Rivers in oceans”

Winds blowing

constantly

Changes in temperature and salinity

Caused by

Winds blowing occasionally

Moon’s gravitational pull on Earth

Caused by

upwelling

Waves are mostly caused by wind, which is caused by energy from the Sun.

Waves

Parts of a wave:Crest: The highest point of the waveTrough: The lowest point of the waveWave length: distance from crest to crest

(or trough to trough)Wave height: distance from trough to crest

Think about how floating objects move in deep ocean water. Do they move forward? Or do they simply bob up and down?

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/conditionblack/seas_flash.html

In a wave, water molecules move in a circle. ONLY the energy moves forward.

So that’s why the waves I play in near the shore look different…

http://www.embc.gov.bc.ca/em/tsunamis/causes_2.htmTsunami animation

Sometimes undersea earthquakes or landslides can cause waves.

A current is a movement of ocean water that forms a regular pattern.

Currents

There are two types of currents: surface currents and deep currents.

Currents can best be described as “rivers in the ocean.”

Just keep swimming! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpV7NIJTxD0

Currents

Surface currents are horizontal and occur within the top several hundred meters of the ocean.

Surface ocean currents are caused by global winds,the Coriolis Effect, and continental deflections.

Surface Currents

Global winds are constant and unchanging.They are NOT the same aslocal winds that change daily.

Examine global surface currents.

Global winds cause surface currents.

Observe an animation of the Coriolis effect over Earth's surface.

Paper and pencil demonstration

The Coriolis Effect steers surface currents.

Continental deflections steer surface currents.

When a current runs into a continent, what does it have to do? It has to deflect, or go a different way.

Surface currents affect climate.

How do you think the Gulf Stream affects the United Kingdom’s climate?

Look at Hopedale in Canadaand Stornaway in Scotland, each at about the same distance from the Equator. Which has a colder climate? Why?

Columbia, SC sits at 34 degrees latitude on the East Coast. Los Angeles, CA sits at 34 degrees latitude on the West coast. The average June temperature for Columbia is 92 degrees. The average June temperature for Los Angeles is 78 degrees. Look at the two cities on a currents map. Can you figure out why?

Surface currents affect climate.

Density differences due to salinity and temperature create deep currents, but not ocean waves.

Currents are pretty cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQZ3QkaWWqA

Deep Currents (also known as density currents)

More salt (higher salinity), more dense water, sinks Less salt (lower salinity), less dense water, rises

Cooler water, more dense Warmer water, less dense

Sinks! Rises!

Density of WaterThink about those molecules.

Coastal Upwelling

• An upwelling is a circulation that brings deep cold water to the surface. It brings food particles and nutrients to the surface, and the fish follow. Fishermen love it!

Observe how upwelling occurs.

Global Areas of Upwelling

Relating Cause and Effect

Surface currentsGlobal Winds

Differences in ocean water density due to

salinity and temperature

Deep currents

Cause Effect

Great Ocean Conveyor Belt

Currents and NikesOn May 27, 1990 the freighter Hansa Carrier, heading to the U.S. from Korea, encountered a severe North Pacific storm. During the storm, a large wave washed twenty-one shipping containers overboard. Five of these containers held a shipment of approximately 80,000 Nike shoes that were released into the North Pacific. Here is where they landed, years later:

Currents carry anything!

There’s a floating island of STUFF sitting in the middle of the Pacific, with everything from plastic bags to entire sections of a ship.

Ocean CurrentsSurface Currents Deep Currents

(Density Currents)

Directions: On the chart you made, write each sentence below in the surface category or density category.

1. Powered by wind2. Slow moving3. Moves only the upper few hundred meters of water4. Can cause upwelling5. Created by changes in salinity or temperature.6. Moves water horizontally, parallel to surface7. Direction of movement is affected by Coriolis effect8. Powered by differences in density9. Transfers heat to the atmosphere which influences climate10. Moves deep in the ocean

Tides are the daily rise and fall of water levels that are caused by gravity due to the moon and sun. Water rises slowly and covers the shore twice a day then slowly falls back.

Animation:http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_tides/media/supp_tide05.html

Tides

High Tide Low Tide

High spring tides are caused by an alignment of the Earth, moon, and sun.

Neap tides have the smallest daily tidal change and occur when the sun and moon are at right angles relative to the Earth. The gravitational forces of the sun and moon work against each other.

Animation:http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/tides/media/supp_tide06a.html

Spring Tide and Neap Tide

Spring and Neap Tides

Spring and Neap Tides Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFYf_it461s&list=UUJjstNDkwktHyvUdtcBfb2g

Ocean Topography ReviewDraw and label the parts of the ocean floor.

Continental Shelf

Continental Slope

Abyssal Plain

Mid-Ocean Ridge

Rift Valley Deep-sea

Trench

Seamount (Island if

above sea level)

Ocean Topography Review

1. Steeply sloping edge of continental shelf that drops to the ocean basin

2. Volcano that does NOT rise above sea level3. Mountain that rises ABOVE sea level4. Relatively flat part of continent covered by sea water5. Deepest part of the ocean, a deep ocean trough6. Flat, almost level, area of the ocean basin, covered

with layers of sediments7. Underwater mountain chain where 2 plates diverge8. A break in the Earth’s crust where 2 plates diverge. 

Match the number to the topographical feature.

Sonar is used to measure the depth of the ocean floor.

As you go deeper into the ocean, the pressure increases; therefore, the pressure would be the greatest in a trench.

Algae is found above the continental shelf since it needs sunlight to survive.

Mid-ocean ridges are underwater mountain chains near active volcanoes.

Ocean Topography Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgDM6m0lUGY&list=PLK5QnX_5Gp3Wfz4pMZOVMLd9ujDIzfAGb&index=1

Like the seams of a baseball…

Remember those mid-ocean ridges?

Recycling – reusing waste or scrap materials to help people save natural resources.

One renewable resource from the ocean is wave energy.

Resources and Energy

Hydroelectric energy is energy created by the movement of falling water.

Hydroelectric Energy