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The water cycle is essential to life on Earth and plays a large role in the global climate system and ocean circulation. The warming of our planet is expected to be accompanied by changes in the water cycle for various reasons. [24] For example, a warmer atmosphere can contain more water vapor which has effects on evaporation and rainfall.
Water flow can vary between systems, ranging from torrential rapids to slow backwaters that almost seem like lentic systems. The speed or velocity of the water flow of the water column can also vary within a system and is subject to chaotic turbulence, though water velocity tends to be highest in the middle part of the stream channel (known as ...
Each headwater is considered one of the river's sources, as it is the place where surface runoffs from rainwater, meltwater, or spring water begin accumulating into a more substantial and consistent flow that becomes a first-order tributary of that river. The tributary with the longest course downstream of the headwaters is regarded as the main ...
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. 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, salt water and ...
Static rejuvenation may also occur, in rare instances, when a downstream knickpoint erodes its way upstream to a lake which establishes base level for its tributaries. When the knickpoint reaches the lake, the lake drains, and the base level of upstream waters lowers rapidly from that of the (now former or shrunk) lake to that of the river ...
Rain falling over a drainage basin in Scotland.Understanding the cycling of water into, through, and out of catchments is a key element of hydrology. Hydrology (from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr) ' water ' and -λογία () ' study of ') is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources ...
This can cause disputes between countries that live upstream and downstream of the river. A country that is downstream of another may object to the upstream country diverting too much water for agricultural uses, pollution, as well as the creation of dams that change the river's flow characteristics. [19]
The water in this stream forms varying currents as it makes its way downhill. In hydrology, a current in a water body is the flow of water in any one particular direction. The current varies spatially as well as temporally, dependent upon the flow volume of water, stream gradient, and channel geometry.