1. Water

2. Earth’s Water
The atmosphere keeps Earth warm enough for water to exist in its liquid form.
75% of Earth is covered by water.
Hydrosphere – Earth’s water environment: oceans, lakes, rivers and other bodies of water.
ONLY 2.5% of this is found as fresh water.
70% of the fresh water locked in ice.
1% in liquid form
ONLY .08% of fresh water in liquid form, is available for domestic use.

3. Water Cycle The circulation of water within the atmosphere
Powered by the sun
Condensation
Evaporation
Precipitation
Runoff

4. Evaporation
The process by which a liquid water becomes a gas, due to added heat.
water to water vapor
Transpiration - water loss from the leaves of plants.
Humidity - The measure of the amount of water vapor in the air.

5. Relative Humidity Finding Relative Humidity
The amount of water vapor in a given volume of air, compared to the total amount that it could hold at a given temperature = relative humidity.
Cold air = little moisture
More dense and less volume
Warm air = lots of moisture
Less dense and greater volume
Finding Relative Humidity
Use two types of thermometers and find the difference between the two temperatures:
Use the chart to find the intersection of the dry bulb temperature and the depression.
Dry Bulb Wet Bulb = Wet-Bulb Depression

6. Relative Humidity 10 61% 35 61% 100 90% Dry Bulb (F) Wet Bulb
Depression
Relative Humidity
(%) 80 70 40 5 97 3 10
61% 35
61%
100
90%

7. Condensation
The process by which a gas becomes a liquid or solid, through the loss of heat
water vapor to water or ice
clouds
3 Types of Clouds:
Based on altitude
in the troposphere
Cumulus
Stratus
Cirrus

8. Stratus Nimbostratus = Produce drizzle, rain or snow Below 2km
Flat layers
Strato = “spread out”
Cover all or most of the sky
Nimbostratus = Produce drizzle, rain or snow
Nimbo = rain

9. Cumulus Cumulonimbus = “thunderheads” 2km above ground
Cumulus means “heap” or “mass”
Look fluffy, rounded piles of cotton
Indicate fair weather
Cumulonimbus = “thunderheads”
Nimbus is Latin for “rain”
7km above ground

10. Cirrus Cirrocumulus look like rows of cotton balls
Form only at high levels, above 6km with low temperatures
Wispy, feathery
Made of ice crystals
Cirrocumulus look like rows of cotton balls
Indicate a storm is on its way

11. Precipitation
Any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches Earth’s surface.
ALWAYS comes from clouds!
Types of Precipitation:
Rain
Sleet
Freezing Rain
Hail
Snow

12. Precipitation Maps

13. Precipitation Map Analysis
What units were used to measure the annual precipitation?
How much annual precipitation does Long Island receive?
What range of precipitation would Syracuse be in?
Which location in NY State received the greatest
amount of annual precipitation?
How much?
Which location in NY State received the least
inches
44 inches
36-40 inches
Catskills
56-60 inches
Champlain Lowlands
28-32 inches