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Moisture Recycling
In hydrology, moisture recycling or precipitation recycling refer to the process by which a portion of the precipitated water that evapotranspired from a given area contributes to the precipitation over the same area. Moisture recycling is thus a component of the hydrologic cycle. The ratio of the locally derived precipitation () to total precipitation () is known as the recycling ratio, : \rho = \frac. The recycling ratio is a diagnostic measure of the potential for interactions between land surface hydrology and regional climate. Land use changes, such as deforestation or agricultural intensification, have the potential to change the amount of precipitation that falls in a region. The recycling ratio for the entire world is one, and for a single point is zero. Estimates for the recycling ratio for the Amazon basin range from 24% to 56%, and for the Mississippi basin from 21% to 24%. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydrology
Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydrologist. Hydrologists are scientists studying earth science, earth or environmental science, civil engineering, civil or environmental engineering, and physical geography. Using various analytical methods and scientific techniques, they collect and analyze data to help solve water related problems such as Environmentalism, environmental preservation, natural disasters, and Water resource management, water management. Hydrology subdivides into surface water hydrology, groundwater hydrology (hydrogeology), and marine hydrology. Domains of hydrology include hydrometeorology, surface-water hydrology, surface hydrology, hydrogeology, drainage basin, drainage-basin management, and water quality. Oceanography and meteorology are not included beca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it flows generally south for to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's Drainage basin, watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky Mountains, Rocky and Appalachian Mountains, Appalachian mountains. The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The main stem is entirely within the United States; the total drainage basin is , of which only about one percent is in Canada. The Mississippi ranks as the world's List of rivers by discharge, tenth-largest river by discharge flow, and the largest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Climatology
Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric condition during an extended to indefinite period of time; weather is the condition of the atmosphere during a relative brief period of time. The main topics of research are the study of climate variability, mechanisms of climate changes and modern climate change. This topic of study is regarded as part of the atmospheric sciences and a subdivision of physical geography, which is one of the Earth sciences. Climatology includes some aspects of oceanography and biogeochemistry. The main methods employed by climatologists are the analysis of observations and modelling of the physical processes that determine climate. Short term weather forecasting can be interpreted in terms of knowledge of longer-term phenomena of climate, for insta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Baydha Project
The Al Baydha Project, in rural, western Saudi Arabia, is a land restoration, poverty-alleviation, and heritage preservation program, based on principles of permacultural and hydrological design. Located roughly south of Mecca, in Makkah Province, Al Baydha is an area characterized by the rocky, arid, foothills of the Hijaz Mountains. Arab tribes are the major residents of this region. Founded in 2009 by Princess Haifa Al-Faisal, Harvard ethicist Mona Hamdy, and Stanford permaculturist Neal Spackman, Al Baydha has begun to see practical and ecological results. Project goals Most notably, Al Baydha's emphasis is on creating an economy for the inhabitants of Al Baydha that is socially, culturally, environmentally, and economically sustainable. The project's main objective is to create financial and social independence for the inhabitants by training, educating and employing them in the infrastructure and capacity building activities undertaken by the Al Baydha Project. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Land Surface Effects On Climate
Land surface effects on climate are wide-ranging and vary by region. Deforestation and exploitation of natural landscapes play a significant role. Some of these environmental changes are similar to those caused by the effects of global warming. Deforestation effects Major land surface changes affecting climate include deforestation (especially in tropical rainforest, tropical areas), and destruction of grasslands and Deserts and xeric shrublands, xeric woodlands by overgrazing, or lack of grazing. These changes in the natural landscape reduce evapotranspiration, and thus water vapor, in the atmosphere, limiting clouds and precipitation. It has been proposed, in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, that evaporation rates from forested areas may exceed that of the oceans, creating zones of low pressure, which enhance the development of storms and rainfall through atmospheric moisture recycling. The American Institute of Biological Sciences published a similar paper in su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Precipitationshed
In meteorology, a precipitationshed is the upwind ocean and land surface that contributes evaporation to a given, downwind location's precipitation. The concept has been described as an "atmospheric watershed". The concept itself rests on a broad foundation of scholarly work examining the evaporative sources of rainfall. Since its formal definition, the precipitationshed has become an element in water security studies, examinations of sustainability, and mentioned as a potentially useful tool for examining vulnerability of rainfall dependent ecosystems. Concept In an effort to conceptualize the recycling of evaporation from a specific location to the spatially explicit region that receives this moisture, the precipitationshed concept was expanded to the evaporationshed. This expanded concept has been highlighted as particularly useful for providing a spatially explicit region for examining the impacts of significant land-use change, such as deforestation, irrigation, or agricul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Cycle
The water cycle (or hydrologic cycle or hydrological cycle) is a biogeochemical cycle that involves the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth across different reservoirs. The mass of water on Earth remains fairly constant over time. However, the partitioning of the water into the major reservoirs of ice, fresh water, Saline water, salt water and Atmosphere, atmospheric water is variable and depends on Climate, climatic variables. The water moves from one reservoir to another, such as from river to ocean, or from the ocean to the atmosphere due to a variety of physical and chemical processes. The processes that drive these movements, or Flux (biology), fluxes, are evaporation, transpiration, condensation, Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, Sublimation (phase transition), sublimation, Infiltration (hydrology), infiltration, surface runoff, and subsurface flow. In doing so, the water goes through different phases: liquid, solid (ice) and W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surface Runoff
Surface runoff (also known as overland flow or terrestrial runoff) is the unconfined flow of water over the ground surface, in contrast to ''channel runoff'' (or ''stream flow''). It occurs when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when the soil is #Saturation excess overland flow, saturated by water to its full capacity, and the rain arrives #Infiltration excess overland flow, more quickly than the soil can absorb it. Surface runoff often occurs because wikt:impervious#Adjective, impervious areas (such as roofs and Road surface, pavement) do not allow water to soak into the ground. Furthermore, runoff can occur either through natural or human-made processes. Surface runoff is a major component of the water cycle. It is the primary agent of Soil erosion#Rainfall and runoff, soil erosion by water. The land area producing runoff that drains to a common point is called a drainage basin. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Precipitationshed
In meteorology, a precipitationshed is the upwind ocean and land surface that contributes evaporation to a given, downwind location's precipitation. The concept has been described as an "atmospheric watershed". The concept itself rests on a broad foundation of scholarly work examining the evaporative sources of rainfall. Since its formal definition, the precipitationshed has become an element in water security studies, examinations of sustainability, and mentioned as a potentially useful tool for examining vulnerability of rainfall dependent ecosystems. Concept In an effort to conceptualize the recycling of evaporation from a specific location to the spatially explicit region that receives this moisture, the precipitationshed concept was expanded to the evaporationshed. This expanded concept has been highlighted as particularly useful for providing a spatially explicit region for examining the impacts of significant land-use change, such as deforestation, irrigation, or agricul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amazon Basin
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela, as well as the territory of French Guiana. Most of the basin is covered by the Amazon rainforest, also known as Amazon rainforest, Amazonia. With a area of dense tropical forest, it is the largest rainforest in the world. Geography The Amazon River begins in the Andes, Andes Mountains at the west of the basin with its main tributary the Marañón River and Apurímac River, Apurimac River in Peru. The highest point in the Drainage divide, watershed of the Amazon is the second biggest peak of Yerupajá at . The Amazon River Basin occupies the entire central and eastern area of South America, lying to the east of the Andes mountain range and extending from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwealth usage), snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor (reaching 100% relative humidity), so that the water condenses and "precipitates" or falls. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation; their water vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate, so fog and mist do not fall. (Such a non-precipitating combination is a colloid.) Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated with water vapor: cooling the air or adding water vapor to the air. Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called shower (p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in the cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output. , small farms produce about one-third of the world's food, but large farms are prevalent. The largest 1% of farms in the world are greater than and operate more than 70% of the world's farmland. Nearly 40% of agricultural land is found on farms larger than . However, five of every six farm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
