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Ice caps and global water distribution
As these charts and the data table show, the amount of water locked up in ice and snow is only about 1.7 percent of all water on Earth, but the majority of total freshwater on Earth, about 68.7 percent, is held in ice caps and glaciers.
Together, the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets contain more than 99 percent of the freshwater ice on Earth. The Antarctic Ice Sheet extends almost 14 million square kilometers (5.4 million square miles), roughly the area of the contiguous United States and Mexico combined.
Earth's polar ice caps are mostly water-based ice. On Mars, polar ice caps are a combination of water ice and solid carbon dioxide. Few organisms have adapted to life on an ice cap, although many plants and animals live on the cold periphery.
About three-quarters of Earth's freshwater is stored in glaciers. Therefore, glacier ice is the second largest reservoir of water on Earth and the largest reservoir of freshwater on Earth!
Glacierized areas cover over 15 million square kilometers (5.8 million square miles). Glaciers store about 69 percent of the world's fresh water. During the maximum point of the last ice age, glaciers covered about 32 percent of the total land area.
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The definition of freshwater is water containing less than 1,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids, most often salt. As a part of the water cycle, Earth's surface-water bodies are generally thought of as renewable resources, although they are very dependent on other parts of the water cycle.
Icebergs form when a large chunk of freshwater ice breaks off or “calves” from an ice shelf or a glacier. This comes from snow compacted to make ice, so it is fresh. Ice forms when saltwater freezes. When this happens, there isn't enough room in the ice crystal for salt, so the water is fresh.
When water freezes, due to the structure of ice, it leaves behind impurities such as salt, resulting in pure water (ice). Also when water evaporates it leaves behind impurities such as salt, therefor snow falls as pure water too. This results in freshwater ice caps.
As noted, the oceans are the main reservoir for Earth's water, and the cryosphere is the main reservoir of Earth's freshwater.
As these charts and the data table show, the amount of water locked up in ice and snow is only about 1.7 percent of all water on Earth, but the majority of total freshwater on Earth, about 68.7 percent, is held in ice caps and glaciers.
The two major areas with ice cap climates are Antarctica and Greenland. Some of the most northern islands of Canada and Russia, along with some regions and islands of Norway's Svalbard Archipelago also have ice cap climates.
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Today, there are only two ice sheets in the world: the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet. During the last glacial period, however, much of the Earth was covered by ice sheets. Ice sheets formed like other glaciers.
The Antarctic Ice Sheet contains 30 million cubic kilometers (7.2 million cubic miles) of ice: 70% of Earth's freshwater and 90% of its ice. Antarctica is considered a desert because it gets very little rain or snow, and temperatures as low as −89 °C (−129 °F) have been recorded.
Over 68 percent of the fresh water on Earth is found in icecaps and glaciers, and just over 30 percent is found in ground water. Only about 0.3 percent of our fresh water is found in the surface water of lakes, rivers, and swamps.
about the height of the U.S. Rocky Mountains. The present Antarctic ice sheet accounts for 90 percent of Earth's total ice volume and 70 percent of its fresh water. It houses enough water to raise global sea level by 200 ft.
Salt water is 97% of all water and is found mostly in our oceans and seas. Fresh water is found in glaciers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, rivers, streams, wetlands and even groundwater.
Sources. The original source of almost all fresh water is precipitation from the atmosphere, in the form of mist, rain and snow. Fresh water falling as mist, rain or snow contains materials dissolved from the atmosphere and material from the sea and land over which the rain bearing clouds have traveled.
4.3 Sources of water
Lakes are bodies of freshwater entirely surrounded by land. There are lakes on every continent and in every ecosystem. A lake is a body of water that is surrounded by land. There are millions of lakes in the world.
Very deep groundwater is normally very saline, much of it is connate water, sea water deposited with the sediments forming the sedimentary rock containing it. Localized salt intrusion may come from salt domes contributing chloride to the surrounding groundwater.
Rivers and streams are moving bodies of freshwater. The water in a river or stream is largely made up of runoff from sources such as melting glaciers or rainwater. Rivers and streams usually empty into a lake or the ocean.
Freshwater resources are found in aquifers, a scientific term for geological rock formations that contain water in their porous spaces. Aquifers contain 99% of all accessible freshwater on the planet and they are widely spread across all continents.
Introduction. Salinity is the measure of the amount of dissolved salts in water. It is usually expressed in parts per thousand (ppt) or percentage (%). Freshwater from rivers has a salinity value of 0.5ppt or less.
In the beginning, the primeval seas were probably only slightly salty. But over time, as rain fell to the Earth and ran over the land, breaking up rocks and transporting their minerals to the ocean, the ocean has become saltier. Rain replenishes freshwater in rivers and streams, so they don't taste salty.
Source: yamo.iliensale.com
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