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| Where is the water on our planet? |
  
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| Where is the water on our planet? |
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Where is the water on our planet?
Yes, the Earth is an equilibrium with the water!
Water is continuously moving across and above the Earth as water vapor, liquid water and ice. In fact, water is constantly changing its form. The Earth is almost a "closed system", like a terrarium. This means that neither the Earth as a whole, gains or loses a big question, including water. Although some, such as meteorites from space, are captured by Earth, very few Earth substances escape into space. It is certainly true on the water. This means that the same water that existed on Earth millions of years ago still here. Thanks to the water cycle (a graphical view of the water cycle), the same water is continually recycled in the world. It is quite possible that the water you drink for lunch was once used by Mama Alosaurus give her baby a bath.
By the way, there is a theory that a large portion of water on our planet from comets striking the planet billions of years.
On the water and Earth
When the Earth is located in water and in what forms are there? You can see how water is distributed by viewing these bar charts. The left side bar shows where water exists on Earth; about 97 percent of all water in the oceans. The middle graph shows the distribution of this three per cent of all the earth The water is freshwater. The majority, about 69 percent, is locked in glaciers and ice caps, mainly in Greenland and Antarctica. You may be surprised that the rest of Freshwater, almost all of it is below your feet, as groundwater. No matter where on Earth you are standing, chances are that, at a depth, the ground below you is saturated with water. Of all the freshwater resources on Earth, only about 0.3 percent is contained in rivers and lakes to rivers and lakes are not only the water we are more familiar, it is also where Most of the water we use in our daily life there.
How Earth water is available for our purposes ... and in what forms are there? You can better see how water is distributed by the display of these graphics:
The top pie chart shows that over 99 percent of all water (oceans, seas, ice, salt water, and atmosphereic water) is not available for our use. And even the remaining fraction of one percent (the little brown tranche at the top pie chart), much of which is out of reach. Considering that most of the water that we use in everyday life comes from rivers (the small dark blue slice in the bottom pie), you will see that we usually use a tiny fraction of supply available water. The pie below shows that the vast majority of available fresh water for our uses are stored in the basement (the large gray instalment in the second pie chart).
For a detailed explanation of the Earth, where water is, see the table below. Notice how the world total water supply of about 332.5 million cubic miles (1386 million cubic kilometers) of water, more than 96 percent is salty. And, of a total freshwater, over 68 percent is locked in ice and glaciers. Another 30 per cent of freshwater is in the ground. Thus, surface water sources (such as rivers) are approximately 22300 cubic miles (93100 cubic kilometers), which is about 0.0067 percent of the total volume of water, but rivers are the source of most people use water.
An estimate of the worldwide distribution of water:
| Water source |
Volume of water,
diced miles
|
Volume of water in cubic kilometres
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Percentage of the total volume of water
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321,000,000 |
1,338,000,000 |
-- |
96.5 |
The ice caps, glaciers, snow and permanent
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5,773,000 |
24,064,000 |
68.7 |
1.74 |
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5,614,000 |
23,400,000 |
-- |
1.7 |
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Fresh
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2,526,000 |
10,530,000 |
30.1 |
0.76 |
| Saline |
3,088,000 |
12,870,000 |
-- |
0.94 |
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3,959 |
16,500 |
0.05 |
0.001 |
The ground ice and permafrost
|
71,970 |
300,000 |
0.86 |
0.022 |
| Lakes |
42,320 |
176,400 |
-- |
0.013 |
| Fresh |
21,830 |
91,000 |
0.26 |
0.007 |
| Saline |
20,490 |
85,400 |
-- |
0.006 |
| Atmosphere |
3,095 |
12,900 |
0.04 |
0.001 |
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2,752 |
11,470 |
0.03 |
0.0008 |
| Rivers |
509 |
2,120 |
0.006 |
0.0002 |
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Biologic water
|
269 |
1,120 |
0.003 |
0.0001 |
| Total |
332,500,000 |
1,386,000,000 |
- |
100 |
Source: Gleick, P. H. 1996: The water resources. In Encyclopedia of climate and weather, ed. by SH Schneider, Oxford University Press, New York, vol. 2, pp.817-823.
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