What is a watershed webquest

3. What type of watershed is shown in the map?

National 8-digit hydrolic units

Water on the _________________ really does sustain life

land surface

How much water do plants transpire during the growing season

many times more that its own weight

Name 6 factors that determine how much of the streamflow will flow by the monitoring site

Precipitation, infiltration, Evaporation, transpiration, storage, water use by people

What are the five atmospheric factors that affect transpiration

Temperature, relative humidity, wind and air movement, soil-moisture availability, type of plant

2. Watersheds can vary in size.. True or False?

True

What is the greatest factor in controlling streamflow

amount of precipitation that falls in the watershed as rain or snow

The _________________ and ___________________ of surface water changes over time and space

amount; location

1. What is a watershed?

area of land where all of the water that falls in it and drains off of it goes to a common outlet

Rivers hold only about ___________________ percent of total freshwater reserves

.006

Another _____________ percent (about 5,500 cubic miles about 23,000 cubic kilometers)) is stored in the Great Lakes

20

__________ percent of all fresh surface water is in one Lake, Lake Baikal in Asia

20

Freshwater represents only about ___________________ percent of water on Earth and freshwater lakes and swamps account for a mere _____________ percent of Earth's freshwater

3; .29

What is the opposite of evaporation

condensation

Outflows from lakes and rivers include _______________________, movement of water into groundwater, and withdrawals by people

evaporation

Water from rainfall returns to the atmosphere largely through ______________

evaporation

What is transpiration

evaporation of water from plant leaves

What part of the water cycle that is essential to all life on Earth?

freshwater on land surface

Inflows to these water bodies will be from ______________ overland________________, groundwater__________________, and inflows

precipitation, runoff, seepage,

What is evaporation

process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas or vapor

__________________ store water and increase the amount of water that evaporates and infiltrates

reservoirs

People have built systems, such as large _____________ and small_________________ to store water for when they need it. These systems allow people to live in places where nature doesn't always supply enough water or where water is not available at the time of year it is needed.

reservoirs; water towers

What are the two main products obtained from the evaporation of water

salt and cooling - cheap air conditioning

7. Larger watersheds contain many ________. It all depends on the ___________

smaller watersheds; outflow point

6. What does watershed consist of?

surface water - lakes, streams, reservoirs, and wetlands

_______________ are what made the Great Lakes not only "great", but also such a huge storehouse of freshwater

glaciers

Why does evaporation occur

heat /energy breaks the bonds that hold water together

Explain how evaporative cooling works

heat removed from the environment cools the air

The amount of water that will infiltrate (soak in over time) depends on which four characteristics

soil characteristics, soil saturation, land cover, slope of the land

Earth's _____________ bodies are generally thought of as renewable resources

surface water bodies

The root systems of plants absorb water from the surrounding soil in various amounts through the process of __________

transpiration

What is the definition of freshwater

water containing less that 1,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids, most often salt

9. Why are watersheds important?

the streamflow and the water quality of a river are affected by things, human or not happening in the land area above the river outflow point

8. What is the outflow point?

watershed

How does evaporation drive the water cycle

from the oceans

4. The word watershed is sometimes used interchangeably with _______________ or ___________

drainage basin or catchment

5. Ridges and hills that separate two watersheds are called_____________

drainage divide