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FIGURE 15.2. Flow dynamics of 10 selected boreal rivers. Name of gauging station
and recording period are indicated.

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Hydrology

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7/8/22, 1:24 AM Hydrological Cycle - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
S.J. Marshall, in Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences,
2013

The Global Water Cycle

The hydrological cycle describes the perpetual flux and exchange of water between
different global reservoirs: the oceans, atmosphere, land surface, soils,
groundwater systems, and the solid Earth (Figure 1). Most of the world’s water –
approximately 96.3% – is in the world’s oceans, where water molecules have an
average residence time of about 3300 years. Glaciers and ice sheets lock up more
than half of the remaining water (Table 1), with 90% of this stored in the Antarctic
Ice Sheet. Most of what remains lies below the surface, in groundwater aquifers,
where vast reserves of water are saline or difficult to access.

Figure 1. The global water inventory.

Table 1. The global water inventory (km3)

Reservoir Size (km3) World water (%) Freshwater (%)

All Surface

Oceans1 1 285 400 000 96.30 − −

Ice Sheets2 25 470 000 1.91 − −

2
Glaciers 270 000 0.02 − −

Permafrost3 22 000 0.002 − −

4
Groundwater 23 400 000 1.75 − −

 Fresh 10 530 000 0.79 98.85

Lakes 176 400 0.01 − −

 Fresh 91 000 0.007 0.85 74.5

Rivers 2120 0.0002 0.02 1.7

Soil water 16 500 0.001 0.15 13.5

Wetlands 11 470 0.001 0.11 9.4

Biosphere 1120 0.0001 0.01 0.9

5
Atmosphere 12 700 0.001 − −

Surface freshwater 122 210 0.01 − 100.0

Total freshwater 10 652 210 0.80 100.00 −

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7/8/22, 1:24 AM Hydrological Cycle - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

Reservoir Size (km3) World water (%) Freshwater (%)

All Surface

Global total 1 334 782 310 100.00 − −

1
Charette and Smith (2010), water only (salts removed, assuming a salinity of
3.5%).
2
Marshall (2011); glacier density of 900 kg m− 3; Antarctic Peninsula classified
as glaciers.
3
Median of Zhang et al. (1999) estimate of 11 000–37 000 km3 of ice (density
917 kg m− 3).
4
Global estimates vary, making this the most uncertain term in the global
water inventory.
5
Trenberth and Smith (2005).
Reproduced from Shiklomanov, I. (1993). World fresh water resources. In:
Gleick, P.H. (eds.) Water in crisis: A guide to the world's fresh water resources.
New York: Oxford University Press, with updates from other sources as
indicated.

Freshwater in circulation, on which ecosystems and society so critically depend,

therefore makes up only a tiny fraction of Earth’s total water supply. Surface water
constitutes only 0.02% of the global inventory, distributed between rivers, lakes,
wetlands, soils, and the biosphere. The United Nations Environmental Program
(UNEP) estimates the global, accessible freshwater supply to be about 200 000 km3.
This equates to about 29 million liters of water for each person on the planet.
Global water supplies are bountiful, though not easily accessed or equitably
distributed.
Fluxes of water between reservoirs are indicated in Figure 2 and are discussed in
the Global Water Cycle section of the ESES module. There are high rates of
turnover in the atmosphere, biosphere, soils, and rivers; the average lifetime of a
water molecule in the atmosphere is 9.2 days, and considerably less than this in the
world’s rain belts. Once on the land surface, water can be stored for extended
periods in soils, lakes, groundwater aquifers, vegetation, and seasonal snowpacks.
On an annual basis, however, discharge from the world’s rivers is in near-
equilibrium with global precipitation, returning what the ocean gives up through
evaporation.

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