One estimate of global water distribution Volume (1000 km 3 ) Percent of Total Water Percent of Fresh Water Oceans, Seas, & Bays1,338, Ice caps, Glaciers, & Permanent Snow 24, Groundwater23, Fresh(10,530)(0.76)30.1 Saline(12,870)(0.94)- Soil Moisture Ground Ice & Permafrost Lakes Fresh(91.0)(0.007).26 Saline(85.4)(0.006)- Atmosphere Swamp Water Rivers Biological Water Total1,385, Source: Gleick, P. H., 1996: Water resources. In Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather, ed. by S. H. Schneider, Oxford University Press, New York, vol. 2, pp
Fresh Water
Hydrologic Cycle Powered by energy from the sun Evaporation 90% of atmospheric water Transpiration 10% Evaporation exceeds precipitation over oceans Precipitation exceeds evaporation over continents All water stored in atmosphere would cover surface to a depth of 2.5 centimeters 1 m average annual precipitation
U.S. total, surface- water, and ground-water withdrawals, /circ1268/htdocs/text-total.html
U.S. total water withdrawals by category,
Basin Hydrologic Cycle Charbeneau, 2000.
Basin Hydrologic Cycle – GW/SW Interaction
U.S. Hydrogeologic Units
Figure 15.1
Types of Porous Media Freeze and Cherry, n = V V / V T = Vol Voids / Total Vol
Bedient et al., 1999., Porosity
Two Confined Aquifers with Different Heads Charbeneau, Groundwater will tend to flow from the top aquifer to the bottom aquifer. We can’t make any conclusion about horizontal head gradients from this picture.
Other Aquifer Features
Atmospheric Water Vapor (kg/m 2 ) Sea Surface Temperature (K) From Held and Soden, 2000 ITCZ
SPCZ Annual Mean Salinity
IPCC 2007 Report, Linear trends in precipitable water (in % per decade).