Fresh water and Related Topics

Lake

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Area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake.

Lake Sevan is the largest body of water in Armenia and the Caucasus region. It is one of the largest freshwater high-altitude (alpine) lakes in Eurasia.

Lake Tahoe on the border of California and Nevada

Atro/Attar Lake and pass, Ishkoman Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan

There are some 187,888 lakes in Finland larger than 500 square metres. Isojärvi is Finland's 97th-largest lake.

The shores of Lake Peipus, the fifth-largest lake in Europe, near the town of Kallaste in Estonia

The Seven Rila Lakes are a group of glacial lakes in the Bulgarian Rila mountains.

The crater lake of Mount Rinjani, Indonesia

Lake Kaniere is a glacial lake in the West Coast region of New Zealand.

The Nowitna River in Alaska. Two oxbow lakes – a short one at the bottom of the picture and a longer, more curved one at the middle-right.

These kettle lakes in Alaska were formed by a retreating glacier.

Lakes can have significant cultural importance. The West Lake of Hangzhou has inspired romantic poets throughout the ages, and has been an important influence on garden designs in China, Japan and Korea.

Lake of Flowers (Liqeni i Lulëve), one of the Lurë Mountains glacial lakes, Albania

Cross sectional diagram of limnological lake zones (left) and algal community types (right)

Ephemeral 'Lake Badwater', a lake only noted after heavy winter and spring rainfall, Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, 9 February 2005. Landsat 5 satellite photo

Badwater Basin dry lake, 15 February 2007. Landsat 5 satellite photo

Titan's north polar hydrocarbon seas and lakes, as seen in a false-color Cassini synthetic aperture radar mosaic

The Caspian Sea is either the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea

Round Tangle Lake, one of the Tangle Lakes, 2,864 feet (873 m) above sea level in interior Alaska

The majority of lakes on Earth are freshwater, and most lie in the Northern Hemisphere at higher latitudes.

A water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom

Inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a solvent ).

Model of hydrogen bonds (1) between molecules of water

Overview of photosynthesis (green) and respiration (red)

An environmental science program – a student from Iowa State University sampling water

Total water withdrawals for agricultural, industrial and municipal purposes per capita, measured in cubic metres (m³) per year in 2010

$Water availability: the fraction of the population using improved water sources by country$

Roadside fresh water outlet from glacier, Nubra

Water can be used to cook foods such as noodles

Band 5 ALMA receiver is an instrument specifically designed to detect water in the universe.

South polar ice cap of Mars during Martian south summer 2000

An estimate of the proportion of people in developing countries with access to potable water 1970–2000

People come to Inda Abba Hadera spring (Inda Sillasie, Ethiopia) to wash in holy water

Icosahedron as a part of Spinoza monument in Amsterdam.

Water requirement per tonne of food product

The physical properties of seawater differ from fresh water in some important respects.

Groundwater

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Water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations.

Dzherelo, a common source of drinking water in a Ukrainian village

The entire surface water flow of the Alapaha River near Jennings, Florida, going into a sinkhole leading to the Floridan Aquifer groundwater

Groundwater may be extracted through a water well

Diagram of a water balance of the aquifer

Iron (III) oxide staining (after water capillary rise in a wall) caused by oxidation of dissolved iron (II) and its subsequent precipitation, from an unconfined aquifer in karst topography. Perth, Western Australia.

Groundwater withdrawal rates from the Ogallala Aquifer in the Central United States

Center-pivot irrigated fields in Kansas covering hundreds of square miles watered by the Ogallala Aquifer

Groundwater makes up about thirty percent of the world's fresh water supply, which is about 0.76% of the entire world's water, including oceans and permanent ice.

Water cycle

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Biogeochemical cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth.

Time-mean precipitation and evaporation as a function of latitude as simulated by an aqua-planet version of an atmospheric GCM (GFDL's AM2.1) with a homogeneous “slab-ocean” lower boundary (saturated surface with small heat capacity), forced by annual mean insolation.

Global map of annual mean evaporation minus precipitation by latitude-longitude

Relationship between impervious surfaces and surface runoff

The mass of water on Earth remains fairly constant over time but the partitioning of the water into the major reservoirs of ice, fresh water, saline water (salt water) and atmospheric water is variable depending on a wide range of climatic variables.

Marshes develop along the edges of rivers and lakes.

Wetland

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Distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally (for weeks or months).

Wetlands contrast the hot, arid landscape around Middle Spring, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Utah

Bud of Nelumbo nucifera, an aquatic plant.

Many species of frogs live in wetlands, while others visit them each year to lay eggs.

Snapping turtles are one of the many kinds of turtles found in wetlands.

Wetland at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachuesetts, United States, in February

Fog rising over the Mukri bog near Mukri, Estonia. The bog has an area of 2147 ha and has been protected since 1992.

Humid wetlands in Pennsylvania before a rain.

The water in wetlands is either freshwater, brackish or saltwater.

Water resources

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Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water.

Lake Chungará and Parinacota volcano in northern Chile

Relative groundwater travel times in the subsurface

Total renewable freshwater resources of the world, in mm/yr ( 1 mm is equivalent to 1 l of water per m²) (long-term average for the years 1961-1990). Resolution is 0.5° longitude x 0.5° latitude (equivalent to 55 km x 55 km at the equator). Computed by the global freshwater model WaterGAP.

Typical urban water cycle depicting drinking water purification and municipal sewage treatment systems. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Primer for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Systems." EPA 832-R-04-001. p. 7.

Panorama of a natural wetland (Sinclair Wetlands, New Zealand)

97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slightly over two thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps.

Seawater

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Water from a sea or ocean.

Temperature-salinity diagram of changes in density of water

Ocean salinity at different latitudes in the Atlantic and Pacific

Annual mean sea surface salinity expressed in the Practical Salinity Scale for the World Ocean. Data from the World Ocean Atlas

Diagram showing concentrations of various salt ions in seawater. The composition of the total salt component is: 55%, 30.6%, 7.7%, 3.7%, 1.2%, 1.1%,
Other 0.7%. Note that the diagram is only correct when in units of wt/wt, not wt/vol or vol/vol.

Seawater is denser than both fresh water and pure water (density 1.0 kg/l at 4 C) because the dissolved salts increase the mass by a larger proportion than the volume.

River

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Melting toe of Athabasca Glacier, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

The Colorado River at Horseshoe Bend, Arizona

The Porvoo River (Porvoonjoki) in the medieval town of Porvoo, Finland

Nile River delta, as seen from Earth orbit. The Nile is an example of a wave-dominated delta that has the classic Greek letter delta (Δ) shape after which river deltas were named.

A radar image of a 400 km river of methane and ethane near the north pole of Saturn's moon Titan

Flash flooding caused by a large amount of rain falling in a short amount of time

The mouth of the River Seaton in Cornwall after heavy rain caused flooding and significant erosion of the beach.

Leisure activities on the River Avon at Avon Valley Country Park, Keynsham, United Kingdom. A boat giving trips to the public passes a moored private boat.

A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river.

Iceberg

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Northern edge of Iceberg B-15A in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, 29 January 2001

Grotto in an iceberg, photographed during the British Antarctic Expedition of 1911–1913, 5 Jan 1911

Tabular iceberg, near Brown Bluff in the Antarctic Sound off Tabarin Peninsula

Non-tabular iceberg off Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean

One of the icebergs suspected of sinking the RMS Titanic; a smudge of red paint much like the Titanic red hull stripe was seen near its base at the waterline.

An iceberg being pushed by three U.S. Navy ships in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Iceberg A22A in the South Atlantic Ocean

The calving of Iceberg A-38 off Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf

Iceberg pictured in the coat of arms of Ilulissat

An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water.