ELSS

• Cryospheric Stores

  • Sea ice grows in the summer and shrinks in the winter due to the albedo feedback loop.
  • Positive feedback loop that is containing to the the amplification of warning in the Arctic.
  • Sea ice minimum has been shrinking by 12.2% per decade since 1979.
  • 99% of freshwater ice on Earth
  • Ice Caps are thick layers of ice in mountaineous areas that cover an area less than 50,000km2 
  •  Alpine Glaciers are thick masses of ice found in deep valleys/upland hollows
  • Permafrost is when sea rock remains at below 0 degrees, it releases large amounts of CO2 and CH4.
• Oceanic stores

  • Contains of Earths water (97%)
  • Salt leads to a lower freeze point, meaning it is liquid up to spprox -1.8 degrees
  • As sea ice melts due to a warming climate, CO2 can be more easily abosrbed because of the lack of barrier between seawater and air. Leads to a reduction in the pit of water and ocean acidification
• Terrestrial Stores

  Stores of water on land
• Rivers

  • Act as stores and transfers within the water cycle
  • Contain only 0.0001% of all water
• The Amazon river is the biggest in the world, and contains 1/5th of the world's river flow
• Due to climate change and human demand

  Many global rivers are no longer getting from source to mouth in the summer months
• Lakes

  • Most lakes are in the Northern Hemisphere
  • Canada has over 2 million lakes
  • Levels are dropping due to climate change and human use, with the Hoover Dam Reservoir at its lowest ever levels
• Wetlands

  • Areas of land dominated by vegetation where water is static and flowing
  • High levels of biodiversity
  • Store high levels of greenhouse gases and act as carbon sinks
• Ground and Soil Water

  • Water stored below ground in cracks in soil and rock
  • Groundwater often replenishes itself in winter, but the amount of groundwater is reducing massively due to human extraction
  • Soil moisture is key in controlling rates of evaporation and transpiration. If soil is eroded and vegetation cannot grow this can affect precipitation.
• Biological Water

  • Water stored in all biomass (vegetation)
  • Areas of forest have high stores
  • Trees take in water and store and release to atmosphere via transpiration
  • If trees are destroyed this stops the transfer and storing of water and areas can become desert like
• Atmospheric Stores

  • Water exists in three states, with the most common being water vapour (gas).
  • The average water molecule spends just nine days in the atmosphere.
  • Water vapour is an important greenhouse gas and comprises between 0.2%-4% of the atmosphere depending on conditions.
  • Water vapour is the strongest greenhouse gas, accounting for approximately half of the current greenhouse gas effect.
  • The warmer the air, the more water vapour it can hold.
• Amazon rainforest stores

  • 50-80% of moisture remains in the ecosystem's water cycle
  • Permeable and porous rocks such as limestone and sandstone store rainwater
  • Trees store moisture and water within the trees but has been worsened by deforestation
  • Crystalline rocks are impermeable so there is minimal runoff
• Amazon rainforest outputs

  • Water losses from the Amazon basin result from river flow and export of atmospheric vapour
  • Up to half of the rainfall in some areas may never reach the ground, being intercepted by the forest and re-evaporated into the atmosphere
  • Relief – widespread inundation across extensive floodplains occurs every year, storing water for months and slowing its movements into the river
• Amazon rainforest inputs

  • Moisture contributes to the formation of rainclouds, which releases water back into the rainforest
  • Rainfall across the Amazon is very high. Average rainfall across the whole Amazon basin is approximately 2300 mm annually
  • River discharge they peak once or twice a year
  • Wet air blown over Atlantic towards Amazon = wet rainforest = high rainfall
• Amazon rainforest flows

  • Intercepted rainfall accounts for 20-50% of evaporation
  • The average discharge of water into the Atlantic Ocean by the Amazon is approximately 175,000 m3 per second
  • Evaporation occurs from ground and river surfaces or is released into the atmosphere by transpiration from plant leaves
  • Up to half of rainfall in some areas may never recover or reach the ground, being intercepted by forest and re-evaporated into the atmosphere
• Amazon Rainforest Stores

  • Soil carbon stores average between 90 and 200 tons c/ha
  • Biomass is between 400 and 700 tons
  • Large forest trees typically store around 180 tons c/ha above ground, and a further 40 tons c/ha in their roots
  • 100 billion tons of carbon is locked up in the Amazon rainforest
• Amazon remains a carbon sink but is becoming a net source
• Amazon Rainforest Outputs

  1. Decomposition releases nutrients to the soil for immediate take up by tree root systems, and emits carbon dioxide which is returned to the atmosphere

  2. Releases 1.7 billion tons through decomposition

  3. Soils, depleted of carbon and exposed to strong sunlight, support fewer decomposer organisms, thus reducing the flow of carbon from soil to atmosphere

  4. Dead trees emit an estimate of 1.9 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere
• Amazon Rainforest Inputs

  1. Deforestation drastically reduces inputs of organic material to the soil

  2. Amazon rainforest absorbs about 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide
• Amazon Rainforest Flows

  1. High temperatures, high rainfall and intense sunlight stimulates primary production

  2. Photosynthesis connects the rainforest to the atmosphere carbon stores

  3. Deforestation destroys the main nutrient store – forest trees and removes most nutrients from the ecosystem
• The Amazon Rainforest

  • Covers an area of 8.2 million km2
  • 70% is in Brazil, but it extends into the neighbouring countries of Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, and Guyana.
  • The Amazon River flows from the source in the Andes Mountains to the mouth in the Atlantic Ocean.
  • It is the largest single source of freshwater runoff, representing 15-20% of global river discharge.
  • The Amazon currently absorbs around 35% of the world’s CO2 emissions and produces more than 20% of the world’s oxygen
• Human factors influencing stores and flows

  Deforestation in the Amazon averaged 17500km2/year between 1970 and 2013.

  Almost a fifth of primary forest has been destroyed Cattle ranching/grazingProduction of feed crops such as Soya
• Upper Madeira Drainage Basin

  Largest tributary of the Amazon River

  Source is in the Bolivian Andes, almost 3,300km from its confluence with the Amazon River in BrazilCovers approx. 1,300,000km2 (19%) of the Amazon Basin.Accounts for 15% of water in the basinHotspot of biodiversity - habitats to spotted jaguar, giant otters, and pink dolphins.Nutrient rich waters see nearly 750 fish species migrate for spawning
• Deforestation and the hydrological cycle in the Amazon

  Increased rapidly in Bolivia and Peru with over 30,000km2 of Bolivian Rainforest removed between 2000-2012.

  Reduced water storage in trees, soils quality due to erosion, permeable rocks and humidity.Less evapotranspiration and less precipitation, whole total run-off and runoff speeds increased In 2014, there were floods that were 19.68m above normal. 60 people died and outbreaks of cholera.
• Why do we have water on Earth?

  Water sustains life on Earth as it provides a medium that allows organic molecules to mix and form more organic molecules.

  Ubiquity of water on Earth is due to the distance from the sun (Goldilocks Zone)Water helps to create benign thermal conditions on Earth. (Absorbs heat, stores, releases slowly)
• Uses for Fauna, Flora and People

  Flora:

  Plants need water for photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration.

  Plants need water to maintain their rigidity and to transport mineral nutrients from the soil.  Fauna and people: In people and animals, water is a medium used for all chemical reactions in the body including the circulation of oxygen and nutrients.Sweating provides cooling sensation in humans. 
• Carbon as life support

  Economic resource - oil, coal, natural gas power

  In atmosphere and oceans Forest trees and agricultural crops
• Indigenous farming methods prior to colonisation

  • Hunter-gatherers
  • Shifting cultivation
• Traditional method of cultivation

  Rotation of land rather than rotation of crops
• Indigenous cultivation process

  1. Clear small areas of vegetation

  2. Burn it so ash provides nutrients for infertile soil

  3. Use land for 2-3 years

  4. Move on to allow rainforest to recover
• Tribes that used this method include the Quicha and Kayapo
• Indigenous people contacted by Europeans

  • Living in high population density urban centres
• European farming methods

  • Used human-engineered soils
  • Comprised of charcoal, waste and human manure
  • Charcoal attracted micro-organisms and fungi
  • Allowed soil to maintain fertility
• Legislative Protection


  A third of Brazil's native vegetation is protected by Brazil's forest code
• Brazil's forest code

  1. Limits level of deforestation permitted to landowners

  2. Requires between 35-80% of land to remain as natural vegetation

  3. Difficult to implement and monitor
• Since 2010, Brazilian government has required all rural properties to be registered by the Cadasto Ambiental Rural government system
• Ensuring compliance with the forest code

  1. Using satellite imaging and other monitoring tools

  2. Restoring degrading areas

  3. Intensifying the use of already developed area

  4. Promoting economic alternatives to maximise benefits of farming and conservation
• Parica Project in Rondonia

  • Sustainable forestry scheme to develop 1000km2 commercial timber plantation
  • Aims to plant 20 million fast growing, tropical hardwood seedings on 4000 small holdings over 25 years, providing economic benefits
  • Cannot replicate biodiversity of rainforest
  • Reduces CO2 emissions and protects the hydrological cycle
• Surui people of Rondonia


  • Participate in a scheme to protect primary rainforest
  • Plant seedlings bred in local nurseries around deforestated areas
  • Native species provide timber, food crops and through logging - sustainable income
• Surui joined the UN's reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) scheme


  1. Grants carbon credits to the Surui for protecting the rainforest

  2. Carbon credits can be sold to companies that exceed their carbon emission quotes