How does land use affect runoff?
How does land use affect runoff?
Change in Land Cover and Land Use (LCLU) influences the runoff characteristics of a drainage basin to a large extent, which in turn, affects the surface and groundwater availability of the area, and hence leads to further change in LCLU. This forms a vicious circle.
What are the factors affecting surface runoff?
Meteorological factors affecting runoff: Rainfall intensity. Rainfall amount. Rainfall duration. Distribution of rainfall over the watersheds.
How does land use changes affect climate change?
Changes in land cover continue to impact local- to global-scale weather and climate by altering the flow of energy, water, and greenhouse gases between the land and the atmosphere. Reforestation can foster localized cooling, while in urban areas, continued warming is expected to exacerbate urban heat island effects.
How does land use change affect the water cycle?
Forests, and tropical forests in particular, play an important role in the global water cycle. Van der Ent also shows that land use changes such as irrigation, dams, and deforestation can alter evaporation patterns in a region, potentially affecting water resources in distant regions.
What is the role of cryospheric change in the water cycle?
On a global scale, cryospheric changes cause global sea-level change and also global water-cycle processes. Cryospheric changes impact the ocean–freshwater balance, which drives the ocean thermohaline circulation, and thus global ocean circulation.
What part do animals play in the water cycle?
Animals contribute water mainly through breathing, perspiration and urination. When droplets of sweat evaporate from the surface of an animal’s skin, they take a bit of the animal’s body heat with them. They also turn into water vapor and enter the water cycle, just like water evaporating from plant leaves.
How do animals release water into the atmosphere?
Water and the atmosphere Water enters the atmosphere through evaporation, transpiration, excretion and sublimation: Transpiration is the loss of water from plants (via their leaves). Animals excrete water by respiration and by passing urine.
How does groundwater return to the surface?
Water moves underground downward and sideways, in great quantities, due to gravity and pressure. Eventually it emerges back to the land surface, into rivers, and into the oceans to keep the water cycle going.
What are two ways that groundwater reaches Earth’s surface?
Water that infiltrates the soil flows downward until it encounters impermeable rock (shown in gray), and then travels laterally. The locations where water moves laterally are called “aquifers”. Groundwater returns to the surface through these aquifers (arrows), which empty into lakes, rivers, and the oceans.
How much of the earth water is stored in underground aquifers?
thirty percent