1. Water Cycle & Water in Ecosystems
Pearson Education
Dr. Jeffrey R. Corney, Managing Director
of the University of Minnesota’s Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve

2. 2-A) Earth’s entire freshwater supply makes up approximately what percentage of the total volume of all water found on Earth?
a. 97%
b. 33%
c. 3.0%
d. 1.0%

3. 2-B) Of all of the volume of water found on Earth, the amount of freshwater that is readily accessible for human use makes up approximately what percentage of the total volume?
a. 97%
b. 33%
c. 3.0%
d. 1.0%

4. a. Almost all of it b. About half of it c. Less than a tenth of it
2-C) In the United States, approximately how much of our drinking water supply comes from groundwater aquifers?
a. Almost all of it
b. About half of it
c. Less than a tenth of it
d. None of it

5. Distribution of Water on Earth
USGS
USGS

6. Not Much Surface Freshwater on Earth!
World’s surface freshwater supply just a drop in the bucket
Of all the freshwater not locked up in ice caps or glaciers and not below the surface in groundwater aquifers, some 20% is in areas too remote for humans to access; and of the remaining 80%, about three-quarters comes at the wrong time and place – in monsoons and floods – and is not always captured for use by people. The remainder is about 0.08% of the total water on the planet.

7. Not Much Water on Earth! Spheres showing… LARGE BLUE SPHERE:
All of Earth’s water, saline oceans and all freshwater, including within icecaps (sphere over western U.S., 860 miles in diameter).
SMALL BLUE SPHERE: All of Earth’s liquid freshwater in the ground, lakes, swamps, and rivers (sphere over Kentucky, miles in diameter).
USGS & Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

8. Where on Earth Is the Water?

9. Definition of a Watershed
A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place.
John Wesley Powell, scientist geographer, put it best when he said that a watershed is: “that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course.”
Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. They cross county, state, and national boundaries. In the continental US, there are 2,110 watersheds.
U.S. EPA

10. Great Lakes Watershed
Environment Canada

11. Mississippi Watershed
Watersheds.org
Fourth largest basin in the world (1.2M sq. miles).
Drains nearly 40% of the continental U.S.
Travels 2,340 miles from Lake Itasca to Gulf of Mexico.
Water retention from headwaters to Gulf is about 90 days.

12. a. Evaporation b. Transpiration c. Condensation d. Precipitation
2-D) As part of Earth’s hydrologic cycle water is extracted from soil by the roots of plants, transported through the plant, then released through the plant’s leaves back into the atmosphere through a process called:
a. Evaporation
b. Transpiration
c. Condensation
d. Precipitation
e. Infiltration

13. a. Evaporation b. Transpiration c. Condensation d. Precipitation
2-E) As part of Earth’s water or hydrologic cycle a significant amount of water makes its way downward through soil and permeable rock to groundwater storage areas through a process called:
a. Evaporation
b. Transpiration
c. Condensation
d. Precipitation
e. Infiltration

14. 2-F) Match the following WATER RESOURCE terms with the definition that best describes it:
Aquifer_____
Watershed_____
Surface runoff_____
Water table_____
Natural recharge_____
a. Precipitation that flows into streams and lakes
b. Top of the zone of saturation
c. Replenishment of groundwater by infiltration
d. Water-saturated sand or gravel where groundwater flows
e. Basin where all water drains into same bodies of water

15. The Water Cycle
NOAA

16. Condensation
SGU
DEW POINT is the temperature below which the water vapor in a volume of humid air at a given constant barometric pressure will condense into liquid water .

17. Precipitation
Rgee
VSC
CMMAP

18. Global Precipitation Pattern
80% of all precipitation falls over the oceans, so only 20% over land

19. Groundwater (Aquifer) Formation
sand
&
Earthsci.org
Precipitation
(recharge)
(soil moisture)

20. Groundwater Aquifers of the U.S.
NOAA
Ogallala

21. Upper Midwest Aquifers
USGS

22. Groundwater & Surface Water
USGS

23. Climate and Aquifer Recharge
Moist Climate w/ Thick Vegetation & Soil
Dry Climate w/ Sparse Vegetation & Thin Soil
Earthsci.org

24. Groundcover and Aquifer Recharge

25. (Evapotranspiration)
Temperature
(Solar Radiation)
Precipitation
(Amount & Timing)
Soil Moisture
(Evapotranspiration)

26. Where Does the Precipitation Go?
Evapotranspiration
67%
Surface Runoff
29%
Consumptive Use 2%
Groundwater Outflow 2%
U.S. Estimated Water Budget
USGS

27. Evapotranspiration
Wikipedia

28. Evaporation: Driven by Energy “Heat”
UCF.edu
Purdue.edu

29. Evaporation: Soil Moisture Conditions

30. Soil Moisture Holding Capacity

31. Transpiration of Water Through Plants
Helicon

32. (Evapotranspiration)
Temperature
(Solar Radiation)
Precipitation
(Amount & Timing)
Soil Moisture
(Evapotranspiration)

33. Global Soil Moisture Balance
IGBP/GAIM
Water balance coefficient computed as the difference between annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration.

34. Where on Earth Plants Thrive…or Not!

35. U.S. Temperature & Precipitation

36. U.S. “Pan” Evaporation Rates
(a rough measure of Potential Evapotranspiration)
Wikipedia
NOAA

37. Soil Moisture Balance for the Midwest- +
USDA
USDA - +
PRAIRIE FOREST

38. Soil Moisture & Three Biomes of MN
Deciduous Forest
Coniferous Forest
Grassland
MN DNR

39. Dr. Jeffrey R. Corney, Managing Director
University of Minnesota
Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve
2660 Fawn Lake Dr NE
East Bethel, MN
(763)