Questions tagged [water]

For questions relating to the liquid phase of water (H₂O), specifically its structure, properties, and uses in meteorology and Earth Science.

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11 votes
1 answer
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Why are these U-shaped bodies of water frequent near Kura river?

I was looking at the Kura river in Google Maps satellite mode and I saw these U-shaped bodies of water: There are other U-shaped bodies of water too: 40.615881° N, 47.205031° E 40.101139° N, 47....
Snack Exchange's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
107 views

How fast can water erode stone?

Is there a way to know, how fast can water erode stone? I mean, if I just put a single stone and drip water on it 24/7, how soon will erosion become noticable? I've seen a video about "15,25 and ...
Arthur's user avatar
  • 11
1 vote
0 answers
68 views

What is the highest evaporation rate in the world? I know evaporation rates for Australia

I have been searching for the above answer for more than 25 years. I am providing a map of Australia for comparison http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/maps/averages/evaporation/ Is evaporation rate 4000 ...
Tad Soroczynski's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
127 views

How do you estimate the depth of a lake?

Say you are on the shore of an arbitrary lake in the world, and you want to predict its likely depth. What do you consider? the height of the nearby mountains the size of the lake the average ...
Nikhil's user avatar
  • 31
3 votes
0 answers
61 views

Source for 71% of the earth being water

It is commonly known that 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by water. What sources can I look at that explain this calculation in more detail?
Mahmood's user avatar
  • 31
2 votes
1 answer
53 views

Is there a way to know what the concentrations of various minerals and ions in the water of a human usable hot spring are?

I have heard that there are hot springs in Greece which contain high amounts of ions and minerals (namely Lithium) that some people believe has beneficial impact on mental health. I can't verify/know ...
Sidharth Ghoshal's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
84 views

“Coastal regions experience moderate climate”. What size are these regions?

It’s common knowledge (and I’m expecting correct) that coastal regions experience moderate climate. But how far is the coastal region affected? Does this affect people sitting on the beach? The ...
Fernando César S.'s user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
23 views

Water comparison of different aqueous bodies in regions not affected by wildfire but adjacent to affected ones

Some big wildfires are hitting some places in Chile. I have read that aqueous bodies can be affected during/after major wildfires. Is it possible to determine if it is safe to drink spring water (...
Marco L.'s user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
51 views

How do you determine the % of precipitation falling as snow in the case below?

I have just started a course in hydrology (a totally different field from mine which is computer science) and I can't find the link between the fact that a river flows into a lake and the % of ...
narutoArea51's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
180 views

How much fresh water could be produced by pumping warm humid air through a pipeline up to the top of a mountain?

I have been doing a lot of research on the Internet lately about various desalination processes which are being used today and this led me to begin studying about mountain weather and the orographic ...
user57467's user avatar
  • 411
3 votes
1 answer
557 views

What are the U.S. government's plans for dealing with the event of Lake Mead drying up in the near future?

I watched a documentary this morning about how the water level on Lake Mead keeps dropping due to a historical 20+ year long drought. The lake's water level has been dropping due to a decrease in ...
user57467's user avatar
  • 411
3 votes
0 answers
45 views

Are rocks extracted from deep drilling, brittle due to pore pressure?

When a saturated rock sample is rapidly extracted from a place with high water pressure, as happens in oil drilling or deep mining, the water is trapped inside the rock at high pressure, trying to ...
kefip's user avatar
  • 31
8 votes
2 answers
467 views

Is it possible for tsunamis to occur on deep water planets?

Assume a water planet with an ocean depth of about 200-500 km. Would a very strong ground-quake happening at the very bottom of the planet's ocean floor be able to cause a large tsunami to rise up to ...
ZanMoon-chan's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
29 views

How does the partial pressure of oxygen relate to its concentration in water?

I've read that the partial pressure of oxygen in water will be the same as the partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere, but that the saturation of oxygen in water is dependent on factors like ...
Elhammo's user avatar
  • 233
1 vote
0 answers
33 views

Desalination of Pacific Ocean water for California

Could it be feasible to have a tunnel using gravity to move water underground into central California, where a nuclear power plant can use the water to create electricity and desalinate it at the same ...
Joe Campitiello's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
98 views

How do melting glaciers dry rivers?

How do melting glaciers dry rivers? Unless there's less precipitation during winter, I don't see how it affects the volume of water of the rivers that glaciers feed into. If it's cold, water ...
Sergey Zolotarev's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
43 views

Hydrologic Mass Balance

Old MacDonald had a farm. And on that farm, he had a pond. Old MacDonald (OMD) liked spending a lot of time fishing in his pond. One day a friend told him that the fish will grow twice as big if the ...
thelegendofaang's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
18 views

Updating plant/crop database

I have been trying to update the QSWAT+ crop database to include new crops. However it seems the model refuses to read a look-up table with new crops leaving me unable to represent all the various ...
Saki's user avatar
  • 41
1 vote
1 answer
126 views

What kind of chromium is in common limestone?

I was thinking of crushing up some common limestone for microminerals because the water where I live has nearly zero calcium content. So I read about the trace elements of limestone and It says ...
bandybabboon's user avatar
  • 1,339
5 votes
1 answer
69 views

How much water is the atmosphere receiving

I was reading this Question earlier about how if water is getting lost into space and one of the answers said that (paraphrase) the Earth lost about enough water for the oceans to reduce by 12 cm, if ...
Tardy's user avatar
  • 574
3 votes
0 answers
82 views

Change in vapour pressure due to climate change

I was just wondering how much the vapour pressure has changed due to climate change. Because with changing temperatures, the vapour pressure also changes; this is described by the Clausius-Clapeyron ...
Weiss's user avatar
  • 1,910
1 vote
1 answer
49 views

What is the proper terminology for a waterfall or stream that loops back round in a cyclic manner? [closed]

For example if water falls down a waterfall then it eventually reaches the very top again to fall back down again.
desbest's user avatar
  • 111
5 votes
0 answers
73 views

Kinetic or equilibrium fractionation from 2H and 18O in evaporation and condensation?

Is the isotope fractionation that occurs during evaporation of surface water equilibrium fractionation or kinetic fractionation? I mean, evaporation can be described by Rayleigh fractionation, but I ...
Weiss's user avatar
  • 1,910
2 votes
2 answers
181 views

Ways of detecting underground bodies of water

I saw one way to achieve this using the magnetotelluric way, but I need some solid fundamental way to understand it. Any book recommendations would be appreciated.
Mukul Malviya's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
383 views

Would covering part of Lake Mead with large sheets of bubble wrap reduce the amount of water lost to evaporation?

I have been recently thinking about how the water level of Lake Mead keeps dropping due to its high water evaporation rate brought on by recent years of historical drought conditions. The continuous ...
user57467's user avatar
  • 411
1 vote
2 answers
105 views

Formation of steam underground

In the process of drilling holes in the ground, if water was introduced, could it reach equilibrium vapor pressure, flash to steam and expel drill bit, drilling rod, and other debris up and out of the ...
Kenneth Vaughan's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
35 views

How to maintain average elevation of water on uneven terrain? [closed]

We have uneven terrain (street) and want to distribute water fairly equally to all locations (homes). The issue is that the locations at the end get sufficient water and other locations need to wait. ...
user26774's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
45 views

How important is water condensation in maintaining the swirling winds of tornadoes?

If we somehow removed all the water from Earth, it seems that there would no longer be tornado-like 100+ mph winds (or, at least, this would be a much rarer occurrence). Discussing storm creation, ...
bobuhito's user avatar
  • 231
1 vote
2 answers
66 views

What are some reasons for Aridification

I an working on a Si-Fi world, and am looking for ways that an area would, over a long timescale, lose the majority of its water. I understand how the lose of vegetative cover due to climate changes ...
Zoey's user avatar
  • 133
4 votes
4 answers
2k views

How do we compensate the water that is being taken out of water cycle for curing of concrete in infra construction?

Concrete is the key ingredient to building housing, roads, and all kinds of infrastructure. Curing of concrete makes sure that the infra is rock solid and reliably durable and safe. But, it also ...
lousycoder's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
44 views

How does ocean productivity vary with depth?

How does the biological productivity of the ocean vary with depth? (By 'productivity', what I'm actually interested in is production of edible fish, but I suppose other measures like photosynthesis, ...
rwallace's user avatar
  • 715
1 vote
0 answers
32 views

soil water retention and soil water content

Can someone clarify me about this doubt? Is the available soil water content (field capacity minus wilting point) the same as the soil water moisture or soil water content? Thank you.
mglrdrgs's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
178 views

Why is the Gulf of Alaska not a Bay? What is the difference between a Gulf and a Bay? [closed]

Since the mouth of this water body is actually very wide, why do we call it a Gulf? What exactly is the difference between a Gulf and a Bay?
nSack's user avatar
  • 81
3 votes
1 answer
432 views

How deep is the water beneath a waterfall?

I always wondered about this, how deep is the water beneath a water fall? I would suspect erosion to erode even rock over time. Are there some visual clues to estimate the water depth? Or is the only ...
CuriousIndeed's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
147 views

Solutions to the global water shortages by damming the Baltic Ocean and the White Sea

Geopolitics and costs aside, would damming the Baltic Ocean and the White Sea be enough to provide a renewable supply of water to water stressed Central Asia? Central Asia because its closest and has ...
Anon's user avatar
  • 21
5 votes
0 answers
55 views

Salinity balance in the oceans, is it increasing over time? [duplicate]

My 13 yr old kid is studying the water cycle and has raised me some question I don't have answers to regarding how the salinity levels of the oceans are kept constant (over very long period of time) ...
Alexandre Dumont's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
153 views

What on Earth are we doing and can be done to prevent the projected (massive) water shortages?

I have heard it from many, many places that the big cities are drawing too much water from their aquifers, and then climate change will exacerbate that problem amongst a very many others. My city, ...
FShrike's user avatar
  • 133
8 votes
2 answers
127 views

Where to find reliable water temperature?

I need data regarding water temperature of Mediterranean Sea according to changes in depth. I couldn't find these data in the Copernicus Marine website, so I'd like to know if you know of any database ...
Mirko's user avatar
  • 83
5 votes
1 answer
115 views

How is weather formation prevented in the stratosphere?

Water diffuses from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. By that principle, I would expect water from the troposphere to diffuse into the stratosphere, where water content ...
Shane's user avatar
  • 321
3 votes
0 answers
28 views

Water flows under the headwater and soil liquefaction has formed

A retaining wall 40 cm thick with variable height (thin-walled corner) is being built in the mountainous area. At the time of the geotechnical survey and design, there was no reservoir next to the ...
Risalat Bigachova's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
238 views

Why are waterspouts less powerful than tornadoes?

It's often said that waterspouts are weaker than tornadoes, but after some quick searches on the internet, I haven't been able to figure out why that is. Two relevant sources that I've found: This ...
Reliably Sourced's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
29 views

How to Distribute Soil moisture output of Thornthwaite and Mather (1954) Soil Water Balance Model into different layers?

in Thornthwaite & Mather (1954) Soil Water Balance Approach The soil moisture output is generated for the whole soil profile, i.e whatever depth we take for the ...
Abhilash Singh Chauhan's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
128 views

Does water affect radiometric dating?

When radiometric dating, would water affect the measured age of old rocks ? Specifically would water affect Uranium-238 to Lead-206 dating of Zircon crystals? Would it affect the lead since it’s ...
Beans's user avatar
  • 211
1 vote
0 answers
81 views

DSWI brief description

What is the brief description of Disease Stress Water Index (DSWI)? According to the link, it has been defined as to detect water-stressed crops at a canopy level. I am looking for a bit more ...
Arthur_Morgan's user avatar
11 votes
7 answers
5k views

While desalinating ocean water, would it be bad if we didn't pump the brine back into the ocean?

Desalinating ocean water takes seawater, separates the fresh water from the brine, and usually pumps the brine back into the ocean. But what if we didn't pump the brine back into the ocean? (For ...
snips-n-snails's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
100 views

Hypothetical: Can we rehabilitate arid/desert landscapes through the artificial precipitation from exhausts of hydrogen powered airplanes?

Note: I know this question sounds fit for aviation stack exchange, but other aspects of this question like cloud formation, atmospheric behavior, precipitation and overall water cycle can be better ...
lousycoder's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
37 views

What is the environmental effect of personal protective equipment on the ocean?

What is the environmental impact of masks and other personal protective equipment polluting the oceans? The world is using billions of masks and gloves due to the COVID pandemic and they are being ...
puzzled's user avatar
  • 143
4 votes
0 answers
159 views

What is the maximum size that a drop of rainwater can reach?

This USGS article: "Raindrops are Different Sizes" assures: We can call the growing droplet a raindrop as soon as it reaches the size of 0.5mm in diameter or bigger. If it gets any larger ...
user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
670 views

Why should there not be water deep (e.g. below 6 kms) in the Earth's crust?

In 1970, the USSR began drilling at the Kola Super-deep Borehole. The target depth was 15,000 meters; The stated areas of study were the deep structure of the Baltic Shield, seismic discontinuities ...
Conrado's user avatar
  • 173
4 votes
1 answer
91 views

What was the size of the Aral sea in year 1000 CE?

I understand that since the rise of the Soviet Union the Aral sea has dried up more and more due to irrigation from rivers diverting its water to other areas for the sake of agriculture. But is it ...
timesharer's user avatar