The water on earth is distributed in eight compartments: rivers, lakes, groundwater, oceans, inland seas, atmosphere, soil moisture, ice sheets or glaciers at the poles..
Water covers most of the Earth, which is why our planet is known as the "blue planet", since from space it looks bright blue..
Water on earth is naturally present in the three phases of matter:
-Liquid phase: oceans, lakes and streams
-Solid phase: glaciers
-Gaseous phase: water vapor in the atmosphere.
Water moves through the water cycle and is what allows life on the planet.
Water occupies 71% of the earth's surface.
About 97% of this water is salty and is found in the seas and oceans. The remaining 3% is sweet and only 0.3% is available for human consumption in ground and surface waters.
Water on Earth is distributed as follows:
The oceans cover 71% of the Earth's surface and contain 97% of all water. The water in the oceans is salty, which makes it unfit for human consumption, although it is home to a large amount of marine life.
Glaciers and ice sheets cover 10% of the earth's surface. They are freshwater reservoirs located mainly in Greenland and Antarctica.
2.14% of the planet's water is found in glaciers.
Groundwater is that which is found below the surface of the Earth.
Although it represents only 0.61% of the total water on the planet, it contains almost all the fresh water available around 98%.
The lakes are extensions of generally fresh water, which receive their contribution of water from the rivers and the rains that happen on them.
The water contained in the lakes represents 0.009% of the total available water of the earth's surface.
Saline lakes are isolated bodies of water that contain a high concentration of salt and other minerals.
The water in saline lakes represents 0.008% of the total available water on Earth.
Soil moisture is the amount of water per volume of land in an area of land and represents 0.005% of the total available water.
The atmosphere contains water in the form of vapor thanks to the evaporation of water from the earth's surface.
Atmospheric humidity represents 0.001% of the total water on the planet.
Rivers are streams of water that are always in motion that tend to flow into lakes or seas..
The water contained in the rivers represents 0.0001% of the available water. Generally, river water is sweet and suitable for human consumption.
River water is of vital importance for life on earth, since its flow can reach a large extension providing water to many regions.
Yet No Comments