CVEN 3501 Workshop Week 2 ANSWERS

Question 6. Atmospheric variables – define with equations

a) vapor pressure – the pressure of a vapour in equilibrium with its liquid and solid phases
b) saturated vapor pressure – maximum water vapour that the atmosphere can hold for a
particular temperature
c) relative humidity – measure of the ratio of the current amount of water in the
atmosphere compared to the saturation point RH = ed/es
d) dew-point temperature – temperature to which the air needs to be cooled for the
current amount of water to fully saturate the atmosphere

Question 7. Atmospheric variables.

Why does the relative humidity decrease during the day and increase at night?

If the moisture content stays the same then the actual vapour pressure will be constant. As the
temperature increases during the day, then the saturated vapour pressure increases. So the
relative humidity (actual vapour pressure/saturated vapour pressure) will decrease
(denominator is bigger). Reverse happens at night.

Question 8. Seasonal Cycles.

Explain why the distribution of solar energy varies with latitude.

• Earth's axis is tilted so the point where the earth's rays meet perpendicular to the surface
is in the southern hemisphere in our summer (December) and in the northern
hemisphere in winter (June)
• Also the poles receive the sun's rays on an oblique angle so they receive less energy
than the equator.
Question 9. Hydrologic cycle

The hydrological cycle is concerned with the movement of water in its various forms through the
Earth system, and includes transport within and between the ocean, atmosphere and land
surface components. A schematic of the hydrological cycle is shown in the following figure and
includes estimates for a number of the inflows/outflow within the system:

ATMOSPHERE
456 410 V = 0.013 Q1 108

OCEANS LANDS
V = 1350 V = 37.5
Q2
A = 3.61 A = 1.49

• Volumes (V) are in 1015 m3

• Areas (A) are in 1014 m2
• Flows (Q) are in 1012 m3/yr

Considering the system to be closed, and assuming mass conservation (i.e. inflows equal
outflows), determine the following:

• the two missing flows, Q1 and Q2

• the average residence time for a molecule of water in the atmosphere, and also in the
surface component of the Earth system (land + ocean)
• the average rainfall over the land and the oceans
• runoff ratio for the land component together with the ratio of evaporation (ET) to rainfall
over the Earth surface (ocean & land separately). What do these values actually mean?