Distribution of Water and Different Water Forms

Introduction to Surface water

• Water that is above the surface of the globe is known as surface water.
• It is the water in lakes, wetlands, rivers, and oceans.
• It is different from atmospheric water, which is found in the sky, and groundwater which is found in the soil.

Surface water bodies

1. Ocean water is saltwater, and water from rivers, lakes, and streams is freshwater.
2. Any body of water on the surface of the Earth, including freshwater rivers, streams, and lakes, as well as saltwater in oceans, is referred to as surface water.

Explanation:

Distribution of water on Earth

• Water is distributed very unevenly throughout the surface of the Earth.
• About 97% of the water on our planet is saltwater found in oceans, while less than 3% is freshwater.

Distribution of freshwater on Earth

• Freshwater: Water with a very small amount of salt is found in streams, lakes, ground, ice, and the atmosphere.
• The majority of freshwater is frozen in glaciers and ice caps.
• Glaciers: Big sheets of slow-moving, flowing ice.
• Some large mountains have glaciers covering their tops. For example, the Alps Mountains in Europe and the Cascades Mountains in North America both have ice caps.
• Large portions of Antarctica and Greenland are covered in ice caps.
• Ice caps frequently break off in chunks. They create floating icebergs in the waters.

Distribution of underground water on Earth

• Fresh water makes up only 3% of the water on the surface; the other 97% is found in the ocean.
• Less than 1% of freshwater is found in lakes, rivers, and swamps, while approximately 69% is found in glaciers and 30% is found underground.
• Humans can only use 1% of the water on Earth’s surface, and most of that water—99% of it—is found underground.

• Left bar: All water on, inside, and above the Earth, including freshwater and saltwater.
• Center bar: All freshwater
• Right bar: Only the portion of freshwater that is found in surface water (lakes, rivers, etc.), snow, ice, and relatively shallow groundwater is shown in the right bar.
• The left sidebar graph shows how the oceans contain almost all of the salty water on Earth. Only a relatively small percentage of the tiny amount of freshwater is actually available to support life for people, plants, and animals.

Freshwater in the form of liquid

• Freshwater on Earth only makes up a very small percentage of the liquid form.
• Most of the available freshwater is found underground in rock layers.
• Most of the freshwater on the surface is found in lakes and soil.

Reservoir

• Water can remain in one place for a very long time. It is known as a reservoir.
• The oceans, glaciers, ponds, and even the atmosphere can serve as water reservoirs.

Residence time

• A water molecule may stay in a reservoir for a very short time, or it could stay for a very long time.
• The term “residence time” refers to how long water remains in a reservoir. Water stays in the ocean for 3,200 years on average.