1. 1. Human factors impact on the water and carbon cycle
1.1. Dynamic Equlibrium
1.1.1. Most natural systems, unaffected by human activity exist in a state of dynamic equilibrium
1.1.1.1. They have continuous inputs, transfers and outputs
1.1.1.1.1. In the short term the inputs, outputs and stores of water or carbon will fluctuate annually
1.1.1.1.2. In the long term, flows and stores usually maintain a balance, allowing a system to retain its stability
1.1.2. Positive and Negative Feedback Loops
1.1.2.1. Water cycle
1.1.2.1.1. Positive
1.1.2.1.2. Negative
1.1.2.2. Carbon Cycle
1.1.2.2.1. Positive
1.1.2.2.2. Negative
1.2. Land Use Change Human Factors
1.2.1. Urbanisation
1.2.1.1. Impact on water cycle
1.2.1.1.1. More impermeable surfaces reduces infilitrating and increases surface runoff, reducing laf time and increasing flood risk
1.2.1.1.2. Urban development on floodplains reduces water storage capacity and leads to increased river flow and flooding
1.2.1.2. Impact on carbon cycle
1.2.1.2.1. Urban areas reduce amount of surface vegetation, reducing net primary productivity and hence the carbon in the terrestrial biomass
1.2.1.2.2. Increased co2 emissions into atmospheric store from energy consumption in urban areas
1.2.2. Agriculture
1.2.2.1. Impact on water cycle
1.2.2.1.1. Irrigation diverts water from rivers and groundwater supplies to cultivated land
1.2.2.1.2. Interception, evaporation and transpiration are lower in agroecosystems than in forest ecosystems reducing vapour in atmosphere
1.2.2.1.3. Ploughing increases soil mositure loss and lead to increased run off and soil erosion
1.2.2.2. Impact on carbon cycle
1.2.2.2.1. Clearance of forest for farming reduces carbon stored in soil and biomass
1.2.2.2.2. Harvesting results in only small amounts of organic matter being returned to soil
1.2.3. Forestry
1.2.3.1. Impact on water cycle
1.2.3.1.1. Plantations of natural forest increase interception of rainfall (sitka spruce forest in the UK can intercept up to 60% of precipitation)
1.2.3.1.2. Lag times are long, peak flow is low and total discharge is low in plantation areas
1.2.3.2. Impact on carbon cycle
1.2.3.2.1. Changing grassland to forests increases carbon stores 10times
1.3. Impact of fossil fuels on the carbon cycle
1.3.1. Use of fossil fuels and its impact
1.3.1.1. In 2013 fossil fuels accounted for 87% of global energy consumption releasing 10 billion tonnes of co2 annually
1.3.1.1.1. Today co2 levels are the highest for 800,000 years
1.3.1.2. Anthropogenic emissions account for less than 10% of the natural influc from the biosphere and oceans to atmosphere
1.3.1.2.1. They impact significantly on the size of the atmospheric, oceanic and biospheric stores
1.3.2. Curvette Centrale Peatlands
1.3.2.1. Covers 145,000km
1.3.2.1.1. Store 20 times as much carbon as US release burning fossil fuels each year, stores 3 years worth of total fossil fuel emissions
1.3.2.2. Threats to the peatlands include drilling for oil, it is a new fron tfor oil exploration with a predicted oil deposit of 360 million barrels
1.3.2.2.1. 1.34 gigatones of carbon could be released if drilling continues to take place, releasing annual emissions equivalent to japans annual emissions
1.3.2.3. Peatlands are attempting to be managed through the Brazzaville declaration to save the peatlands
1.3.2.3.1. As well as a UN environment committee intiative to save the peatlands involving a high level scientidic committee set to improve local understanding about the importance of the peatlands
1.3.3. Sequestration of carbon waste
1.3.3.1. Carbon capture and storage technology has been piloted at a few coal fired powerstations
1.3.3.1.1. This could be significant, 40% of USA emissions come from coal and gas fired power stations, with CCS able to reduce this by 90%
1.3.3.1.2. However it is expensive, drax and peterhead cost £1 billion, and it uses a large amount of energy
1.4. Impact of Water Extraction on the Water cycle
1.4.1. Key Facts
1.4.1.1. Water is extracted from surface and groundwater to meet public, industrial and agricultural demand
1.4.1.1.1. This will have direct impacts on river flow and groundwater storage
1.4.1.2. Thames water is an everyday essential service who serve 15 million customers across london and thames valley
1.4.1.2.1. Aquifers are undergound stores of water which can be abstracted using wells and boreholes
1.4.2. Artesian Basins
1.4.2.1. Formed when sedimentary rock form a basin shape or 'syncline'
1.4.2.1.1. An aquifer forms that is trapped between impermeable layers, meaning the water is stored underpressure
1.4.2.2. Londons Artesian Basin
1.4.2.2.1. Groundwater is found in the chalk layer underneath london, trapped between london clay above and Gault clay beneath
1.4.2.2.2. Over abstraction in the 19th and 20th centuries have led to a dramatic fall in the water table, by over 90m
1.4.3. River Kennet Case Study
1.4.3.1. The river drainage basin is mainly found on chalk, which is highly permeable
1.4.3.1.1. Therefore groundwater is essential to the rivers flow
1.4.3.2. Impacts of Water Absraction
1.4.3.2.1. Water table has fallen, reducing flow of the river by 10-14%
1.4.3.2.2. There is a reduced amount of flooding which does support wetlands on Kennets floodplain
1.4.3.3. Resolutions
1.4.3.3.1. A new 12 mile pipeline to supply part of Berkshire is attempting to reduce amount of water taken from the Kennet
2. 2. How the Carbon and Water cycles change across temporal scales
2.1. Water Cycle
2.1.1. Short Term Changes
2.1.1.1. Lower temperatures at night reduces evaporation and transpiration
2.1.1.1.1. Convectional precipitation is a daytime phenomenon often falling in the afternoon when temperatures reach maximum
2.1.1.2. Extreme latitudes diurnal effects are not relevant as it may be dark/light all day (iceland)
2.1.1.2.1. Winter -shorter days, lower insolation, lower evapotranspiration and higher precipitation vice versa in summer
2.1.2. Long Term Changes
2.1.2.1. Glacial
2.1.2.1.1. Sea levels fall worldwide by between 100-130m as water is stored in the cryosphere
2.1.2.1.2. The area covered by vegetation and water stored in the biosphere shrinks
2.1.2.2. Interglacial
2.1.2.2.1. Increase in evapotranspiration as temperatures are higher, more water is moved through the cycle, increasing run off into rivers
2.1.2.2.2. As water storage in the cryosphere shrinks it makes its way to rivers and oceans increasing sea level
2.2. Carbon Cycle
2.2.1. Short Term Changes
2.2.1.1. Seasonal fluctuations in co2 due to the length of days shortening and lengthening throughout year
2.2.1.1.1. Phytoplankton affected as water temps cool during winter reducing oceans photoperiod
2.2.1.2. During daytime co2 flows from atmosphere to vegetation, flux is reversed at night
2.2.1.2.1. Without sunlight photosynthesis cannot operate and vegetation loses co2 to atmosphere
2.2.2. Long Term Changes
2.2.2.1. Glacial
2.2.2.1.1. Dramatic reduction in co2 in the atmosphere
2.2.2.1.2. Carbon pools in vegetation shrink in glacial periods as a result of advancing ice sheets
2.2.2.2. Interglacial
2.2.2.2.1. As temperatures continue to increase vegetation changes and in tropical areas the ability for vegetation to store carbon diminished and in high latitudes it increases
3. 3. Importance of Research and monitoring techniques to record changes in the Water and carbon cycles
3.1. Ground based methods of monitoring environmental change are impractical so monitoring relieas on satellite technology
3.1.1. This allows for changes to be observed on various time scales
3.1.1.1. GIS is used to map this data and analyse trends and show regions of greatest change
3.2. Remote sensing: satellite technology to monitor changes to the water and carbon cycles
3.2.1. Water cycles
3.2.1.1. Arctic Sea ice
3.2.1.1.1. Monitored by NASA's earth observing system since 1978
3.2.1.2. Ice caps/glaciers
3.2.1.2.1. Monitored on the ground and by satellite ICESat-2
3.2.2. Carbon cycles
3.2.2.1. Sea Surface Temperatures
3.2.2.1.1. Monitored by NOAA satellites
3.2.2.2. Atmospheric CO2
3.2.2.2.1. Monitored by NASA's Orbiting carbon observatory-2 (OCO-2) and ground based measurements at Mauna Lao since 1958
3.3. Evaluation of its use
3.3.1. Advantages
3.3.1.1. Remote sensing has a large area coverage and easy method of data collection across a variety of scales
3.3.1.1.1. The information collected is easily transferred to other software like GIS
3.3.2. Disadvantages
3.3.2.1. Very expensive for the average country
3.3.2.1.1. If the system breaks it cannot be repaired
4. T4: How the water and carbon cycles are linked and independant (TOPIC 4)
4.1. How the water and carbon cycles are interlinked and interdependent
4.1.1. Atmosphere
4.1.1.1. Plants, which are important carbon stores, extract water from the soil and transpire
4.1.1.1.1. Water is evaporated from the oceans to the atmopshere and co2 is exchanged between the two stores
4.1.2. Oceans
4.1.2.1. Ocean acidity increases when exchanges of co2 are not in balance
4.1.2.1.1. The solubility of co2 in the oceans increases with lower sea surface temps
4.1.3. Vegetation and soil
4.1.3.1. Water availability influences rates of photosynthesis, NPP and transpiration
4.1.3.1.1. Water storage capacity of soils increases with organic content
4.1.4. Cryosphere
4.1.4.1. CO2 levels in atmosphere determine intensity of ice and glacier melting and permafrost
4.1.4.1.1. Melting exposes land and sea absorbing more solar radiation and raising temps further
4.2. Influence of human activity on the stores of the water and carbon cycle
4.2.1. Water cycle
4.2.1.1. Demand for water for irrigation, public supply and agriculture has created acute shortages
4.2.1.1.1. Freshwater sources have declines, river flows have slowed and overpumping of aquifers in coastal regions has made water unfit for drinking and irrigation
4.2.1.2. Deforestation and urbanisation has reduced evapotranspiration and precipitation
4.2.1.2.1. Increases surface runo off and lowering water tables
4.2.2. Carbon Cycle
4.2.2.1. Exploitation of oil, coal and gas has removed billions of tonnes of carbon from geological store
4.2.2.1.1. Around 11 billion tonnes of carbon is transferred from geological to atmospheric store as a result of fossil fuel industry
4.2.2.2. Deforestation and land use change transfers 1 billion tonnes of carbon to atmosphere annually
4.2.2.2.1. Storing more carbon in atmospheric store, as only 2.5 million tonnes is absorbed by the oceans annually
4.2.2.3. Deforestation has reduced plantes forest cover by nearly 50%
4.2.2.3.1. Reducing amount of carbon stored in biosphere
4.2.2.4. Phytoplankton absorb more than half of the co2 from burning fossil fuels
4.2.2.4.1. Acidifcation of the ocean threatens phytoplankton as a carbon store