Water+and+climate+change

Justin Cyr
 * Water and Climate Change ** Jon David

Water is the most important substance on the planet. We need it to stay alive. The daily recommended amount to drink per day is eight cups, yet we can only use about three-tenths of this water, which is found in groundwater aquifers, rivers, and freshwater lakes. With the effects of global warming, less of this water is available.

Water is everywhere, in the ocean, lakes, streams, rivers, etc. But how does it get there. Water moves around the earth in a process called the water cycle. Water is evaporated into the atmostphere in the form of water vapor from rivers lakes and the ocean. The water vapor in the atmosphere form clouds. When enough water vapor is absorbed, the clouds release the water vapor in the form of rain. The rain falls into rivers and onto the ground. If it is cold enough it is released in the form of snow. the snow runs off mountians and into the ocean. Water runs off the ground into the ocean and rivers empty into the ocean as well. Then the cycle is repeated again.

__The Water Cycle__ The greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere trap energy from the sun. This is how are planet is heated. With the increase of greenhouse gasses due to our pollution, more of the sun's energy is trapped in the atmosphere. This causes the temperature to rise more. As the temperature of the atmosphere rises, more water is evaporated from ground. When the air is warmer, the humidity is higher, allowing more water vapor to be absorbed into the atmosphere. The more water vapor, the more of the suns energy can be absorbed. Which in turn the atmosphere absorbs more water, and so on. Water vapor is earth's most signifigant greenhouse gas, and contributes to 95% of the earth's greenhouse effect.

__**Interesting Facts about Water**__
 * About 70 percent of our bodies are made up of water
 * A healthy person can drink about 3 gallons of water a day
 * Drinking a lot of water too quickly can cause water intoxication
 * Earths surface is covered by 70 to 75 percent of water
 * United States uses about 346,000 million gallons of fresh water each day







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