Hydrologist: Date: Period:

TODAY’S ACTIVITY: MODEL MY WATERSHED – Water Cycle

1)  Log on to my wiki space: http://hess.wiki.conestogavalley.org

2)  Click on the “Hydrology” link and scroll down to today’s date.

3)  Click on “Water Cycle Model”

a.  If you can not see the soil types at the bottom of the page: Push the F11 button on your keyboard to show full screen.

4)  Notice the different land cover – click on these different land cover pictures and see how the pictures and the daily water budget changes.

5)  Notice the different soil types – click on these different soil type pictures and see how the daily water budget changes.

a.  Explain what happened to the Infiltration and Run-off when you chose the Sand soil type? ______

b.  Explain what happened to the Infiltration and Run-off when you chose the Clay-Loam soil type? ______

c.  Why would there be a difference in the amount of run-off and infiltration between each soil type? ______

6)  At the top of the screen notice the precipitation bar. This is a toggle bar, you can move it to the right or left and it changes the amount of precipitation. Notice how this changes the amount of run-off, evapotranspiration, and infiltration.

Once you have explored how to change the model, please complete the following:

1) Use the precipitation toggle bar to indicate a 2.0 rainfall.

2) Click on the Loam soils – this is one type of soil we have here in Lancaster

3) Click on each of the various land covers, and write down the daily water budget in “inches” below.

Land cover / Evapotranspiration / Run-off / Infiltration
Low intensity residential
High intensity residential
Commercial
Grassland
Forest
Turf Grass
Pasture
Row Crops

4) Using the data from the table you just wrote in the table in Step 3, create a bar graph comparing the amount of Run-off in each land cover (if an amount is zero, do not make a bar)

.

Use the graph to help answer these questions:

1) Which one of these land covers created the most run-off? ______

a. Why? ______

2) Some examples of turf grass are the playing fields behind the school, and the lawn at your home. How much run-off does turf grass have (in inches)? ______Why do you think it has almost the same amount of run-off as a hard surface, like a road or roof (high intensity residential)? ______

5) Using the data from the table you created in Step 3, create a bar graph comparing the amount of Infiltration in each land cover (if an amount is zero, do not make a bar).

Use the graph above to help answer question 3:

3) Which one of these land covers created the most infiltration? ______

a. Why? ______

Evapotranspiration: Use the data table you created in step 3 to answer question 4.

4) Which one of the land cover types had the most evapotranspiration? ______

A plant loses water from its leaves. A large oak tree can transpire (evaporate from its leaves) 40,000 gallons of water in a year!!!


5) Plants have a large vacuole in their cells to store water. This water can evaporate from the leaves. What is one way a plant could hold on to its water and prevent evapotranspiration (an adaptation)? ______

6)In which biome (desert, rain forest, deciduous forest, grassland, etc) would plants need the greatest adaptation for losing water? ______