Snow in Temperate Countries

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Snow in Temperate Countries

• Winter wonderland of freshly fallen snow that
  transform our landscape, change our life and even
  our climate.

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Importance of Water

• Agriculture water use - Regulates food
  productivity
• Domestic/ Municipal water use
• Industrial water use
• Economy Social developments
• Environment - Ecosystems biodiversity
• gt 1 billion people have no clean drinking water
• Global Warming Sea level rise, extreme weather
  that reduces reliability of water resources

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Fiery Torrents

• Irrespective of night or day, rain or shine, the
  loud thundering and the whirlwinds roar, reminds
  us of a Torrent Cycle, that doesnt seem to
  have a beginning, nor an end.

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Waterfall

• What produces an endless, perpetual energy
  machine?
• Rolling water over rocks, dropping off cliff in
  narrow ribbons or vast sheets.

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Rolling Water over Precipice

• What is the major source of electricity for
  Canada, or Norway?
• Not marble nor the gilded monuments of princes,
  shall outlive this powerful rhyme.
• Randy Wong

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Rainbow

• Can you add another hue unto the rainbow?

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Stillness Lake

• What do you prefer, rolling water of
  un-quenchable energy, or timeless tranquility
  when clock temporarily stops clicking?
• Lake Leman woos me with its crystal face. The
  stillness of their respect in each trace. Its
  clear depth yields of their far height and hue.
  Lord Byron, Childe Harolds Pilgrimage

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Moonlight Sonata?

• I am reminded of the master piece of Ludwig
  Beethoven.

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Clouds -Color Changing Hue in the Sky

• Set your affection on things above, not on things
  below.
• Take a glance at the gray sky, are your days
  trances, or eternal dreams?

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Clouds

• Clouds of all shapes and sizes beautify the sky,
  modify our climate, and bring rain and snow to
  keep the nature and we human beings alive.

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Mother Earths Surface covered by Ocean
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Antarctic Ice Sheet

• Earth's polar ice sheets, which cover most of
  Greenland and Antarctica, contain about 70 of
  the world's fresh water.

• NOAA-AVHRR Image of Antarctica. Surface
  temperatures on the continent vary from warmer,
  lower regions (in shades of pink) to colder,
  higher regions (in shades of blue).

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Brazilian Amazon River Basin

• It is the largest continuous region of tropical
  forest in the world, containing nearly 31 percent
  of the world total

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World Surface Runoff

• Surface runoff is very variable spatially
  temporally

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Global Vegetation Index (Aug, 1987)

• The data used in the image were acquired by the
  Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)
  on a NOAA satellite. Dark-blue and green areas
  represent dense vegetation, and pink and dark-red
  areas represent sparse vegetation

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Areas of physical and economic water scarcity
(IWMI, 2006)
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Vegetation and WaterCan you ever separate them?

• There is a land of pure delight, where serenity
  banish loudness, where infinite days exclude the
  night (Issac Watt)

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Mountain and Valleys

• Crowns of snow on mountain tops, that find their
  ways to the valley bottom, to transform a barren
  land to lush green vegetation.

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Desert or Beach?

• Desert means little or no water
• However, beach means quite different things, at
  least usually water isnt a problem.

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Should We Take Our Water for Granted?

• Dry and arid land, where vegetation is sparse
  because water is scare, so it is highly valued.

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Droughts too little water

• Droughts generate famine, which lead to famish
  civilization, untold sorrow and in the end death.
• That undefined and mingled hum, voice of the
  desert never dumb.
• James Hogg, Verses to Lady Anne Scott

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Worlds Arid Semi-arid Regions
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Flooding in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Lismore, NSW, Australia

• Water logging result in great traffic problems
  and environmental/ health hazards

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Dhaka, Bangladesh Flood 2004
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Satellite Images Before After 1993
Mississippi-Missouri Flood
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Renewable Global Water Resources 42,780 km3/yr

• Asia (largest) 13,510 km3/yr
• North America 7890 km3/yr.
• Year to year variability, seasonal and even
  monthly variability are also crucial in the
  economic uses of water.

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Water Withdrawal

• Withdrawal rate grows by about 10 12 for every
  10 years.
• 1995, global withdrawal rate was 3790 km3/yr,
  consumption rate was 2074 km3/yr.
• 1900, global withdrawal rate was 579 km3/yr.
• 2050, global withdrawal rate would be 5240 km3/yr
  4600 5800 km3/yr
•  Asia is the single largest water user in the
  world 57 of total water withdrawal 70 of
  global water consumption.

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• 1950 No region suffered from Catastrophically
  low water stress. 
• 1995 - Catastrophically low in Northern Africa
  Arabian Penisula (200 300 m3/yr/capital), low
  in North China, Western Asia.
• 76 of worlds population had lt 5000
  m3/yr/capital of water availability.
• 35 of worlds population had very low or
  catastrophically low water availability
•  2025 - The situation further deteriorates with
  35 of worlds population having catastrophically
  low water availability. Uneven distribution of
  worlds water resources, and available water
  resources dont coincide with population spread
  and economic development.

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Hydrologic Cycle

• In the past, man wondered how water got up to the
  mountains, why the level of seas did not rise
  continually.
• Over many centuries man slowly gained an
  understanding the basin concepts of hydrology.
  Leonardo da Vinci was perhaps the first person to
  put together the essential (not complete) picture
  of the hydrologic cycle.

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The hydrologic cycle

• Radiation and wind cause water to evaporate, rise
  to atmosphere as clouds, cold down, precipitate
  as rain or water re-distribute and purify our
  water.

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Physical ComponentsWatersheds, Vegetations,
Rivers, Lakes, Sea, Climate
Biological Biogeochemical Aquatic Habitat,
water quality, species richness
Water Cycle
Human ComponentsMan-made hydraulic structures,
e.g. Dams, dikes, canals, pipesSociety-Water
User groupsEconomy Environment
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Evaporation

• Sun provides the energy (radiation and wind) to
  evaporate water from large water bodies that
  gives rise to clouds and rains, without which
  there will be no life on earth.
• Did you know that a cup of water contains enough
  moisture to blanket your entire neighborhood with
  fog fifty feet thick?

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When does Trees stop growing?

• Water is a solvent to sugar, salt, dirt, even to
  rocks.
• Dissolved nutrients are carried to plants to
  promote plant growth.

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River

• Provides Surface Water.

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Ground water Flow

• Groundwater flows slowly through water-bearing
  formations (aquifers) at different rates.
• Above the water table lies the unsaturated zone,
• And below is the saturated zone - Groundwater

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North America Snowcover 1972-93July, October,
January, April (NOAA data)

• July

January
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Snow WinterCan Canadians live without them?

• How does canopy interception of snow change the
  hydrologic process?
• Why snow distribute unevenly?

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Snow Hydrology

• In Canadian Prairies, the shallow snowcover
  generates as much as 80 of the annual surface
  runoff.
• In the high elevations of the Colorado Rockies,
  Sierras of California, and the Cascade Mountains
  of Washington, snowfall accounts for up to 90 of
  the annual water supply.

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Capillary Suction

• Capillary action enables water to rise up into
  soil strata to roots and stems of plants, up to
  hundreds of feet to the top of the tallest trees.
• But wonder how the devil they got there.
  Alexandar Pope

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Summer Waterbody is Heat Sink

• During summer, oceans, seas, and lakes store up
  heat from the sun.

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Hazardous WeatherHurricane and Tornado

• Strong winds blowing over very warm ocean water
  is a deadly combination, giving rise to extreme
  weather like hurricanes. The storm eye is the
  low-pressure area.
• What did Katrina do to New Orlean in 2005?

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Angry Winds and Swirling Trees

• What could be next? Thunderstorms and floods.

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Water Body is Heat Source in Winter

• Ice floats on top of oceans and lakes, insulate
  the water below from the cold, preventing it from
  freezing to greater depth.
• What will happen if water contract when it
  freezes?
• It means disaster, WHY?

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Unusual Properties of Water

• Dipolar character of H2O, 105o chemical bond,
  explains why water molecules are attracted to
  each other, causing water to boil at high
  temperature, and requires large latent heat to
  vaporize.