Hydrological Cycle

The cycling of water in the biosphere is essential to life and shapes the geology of most of Earth's surface.

> cycle is solar driven
> oceans have albedo of .1
> about 1kw/m2 of energy falls on sunniest day
> clouds have high albedo .9 ,   snow  almost 1
> water is vaporized from plants during transpiration

 

> global water cycle has three major pathways:
::precipitation >water precipitates from the sky as rain or snow, most of which (385,000 cubic kilometers per year) falls into the oceans
::evaporation/transpiration > returns to the
atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration
::vapor transport + clouds
 > some water flows from the land to the sea as runoff or groundwater
>   in the other direction, water vapor is carried by atmospheric currents from the sea to the land
> net flow is measured in thousands of cubic kilometers per year
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go By Brooks

Go by brooks, love,
Where fish stare,
Go by brooks,
I will pass there.

Go by rivers,
Where eels throng,
Rivers, love,
I won't be long.

Go by oceans,
Where whales sail,
Oceans, love,
I will not fail.
Leonard Cohen
(born) 1934