The water cycle & freshwater

1. What happens when moist air is forced to rise over a mountain range: it cools, condenses and drops rain on the windward side, or it warms and dries?

2. What happens to river discharge shortly after heavy rainfall in its drainage basin: river flow increases, or river flow stops?

3. Is water in an open shallow pan on a sunny, breezy afternoon likely to evaporate faster or slower than water in a narrow bottle in the shade?

4. What do we call the upper level of underground rock or soil that is completely saturated with groundwater: the water table or the treeline?

5. What combined term describes the total water vapour transferred to the atmosphere from both soil evaporation and plant transpiration: evapotranspiration or precipitation?

6. Does the water cycle create brand-new water or continuously recycle the same water molecules through different states?

7. What do we call water that flows over the land surface into streams, rivers and the sea after rainfall: surface runoff or sublimation?

8. When snow and ice on a high mountain turn directly into water vapour in dry sunlight without melting first, that process is: sublimation or runoff?

9. What role do trees play in a watershed during heavy rain: their canopy intercepts rain and roots help water infiltrate soil, or they block all evaporation?

10. How does paving over grassy soil with impermeable concrete affect rainwater during a storm: it increases surface runoff, or it increases infiltration?

11. When spring temperatures warm mountain snowpacks, the resulting liquid water flowing into streams is called: snowmelt runoff or condensation?

12. Where is most of Earth’s fresh water locked up: in glaciers and polar ice caps, or in clouds?