How much water is present over the Earth?

 

How much water is there on in and above the Earth?

 

All Earth's water, liquid fresh water, and water in lakes and rivers

Earth is a waterlogged place. But how much water is present on and above our planet? About 71 percent of Earth's surface is covered by water, and the oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth's water. Water is present in the air as water vapor, in rivers and lakes, in glaciers and glaciers, as soil moisture in land and aquifers, and even in you and your dog.

Water never sits still. Thanks to the water cycle, our planet's water supply is constantly moving from place to place and from one form to another. Without the water cycle things would get very old!

All the water on earth in a bubble

The globe illustration shows blue areas representing the relative amount of Earth's water compared to the Earth's size. Are you surprised that these water balls look so small? They are only small in relation to the size of the Earth. This image attempts to show three dimensions, so each area represents a "volume". The volume of the largest sphere, which represents all the water on and above Earth, would be approximately 332,500,000 cubic miles (m) (1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers (km3)), and would be about 860 miles (about 1,385 km) in diameter.

The small circle above Kentucky represents Earth's liquid fresh water in groundwater, swamp water, rivers, and lakes. This sphere will have a volume of approximately 2,551,000 mi3 (10,633,450 km) and will form a sphere 169.5 mi (272.8 km) in diameter. Yes, all this water is fresh water, which we all need every day, but most of it is deep in the ground, which is not available to humans.

Do you see a "small" bubble over Atlanta, Georgia? He represents the fresh water in all the lakes and rivers on the planet. Most of the water needed by people and life on earth every day comes from these surface water sources. The volume of this sphere is about 22,339 mi3 (93,113 km3). The diameter of this sphere is about 34.9 miles (56.2 kilometers). Yes, Lake Michigan looks much larger than this sphere, but you have to try to imagine a bubble about 35 miles high—while the average depth of Lake Michigan is less than 300 feet (91 meters).

Water is on and in the Earth

The vast majority of water on Earth's surface, more than 96 percent, is salt water in the oceans. Freshwater resources, such as water falling from the sky and entering rivers, lakes and groundwater, provide people with the water they need every day. It's easy to imagine water sitting on Earth's surface, and your idea of ​​the water cycle might be that rain fills rivers and lakes. But, the invisible water under our feet is also extremely important for life. How do you calculate the flow of rivers after weeks of no rain? Really, how do you account for water running down a driveway on a day it hasn't rained? The answer is that there is much more to our water supply than surface water, there is also a lot of water beneath our feet.
Even though you can only see water on Earth's surface, much more fresh water is stored in the ground than in the liquid form on the surface. In fact, the water you see flowing into rivers comes from groundwater seeping into the river bed. Water from rain continuously seeps into the ground to recharge aquifers, while at the same time water in the ground recharges rivers through continuous seepage.

Human beings are happy that this happens because we use both types of water. In the United States in 2010, we used about 275 billion gallons (1,041 billion liters) of surface water per day and about 79.3 billion gallons (300.2 billion liters) of groundwater per day.  Although surface water is used more for supplying drinking water and irrigating crops, groundwater is important in that it not only helps to keep rivers and lakes full, but it also serves as a source of water for the people in those places. also provides water where visible water is scarce, such as in desert cities of the western United States. Without groundwater, people would be sand-surfing in Palm Springs, California, instead of playing golf.

How much water is there on (and in) the Earth? Here are some numbers you can think about:

If all of Earth's water (oceans, glaciers and glaciers, lakes, rivers, groundwater, and atmospheric water) were put into a sphere, that water sphere would have a diameter of about 860 miles (about 1,385 kilometers), a little more than Salt Lake City. . A kilometer of water is equal to about 264 billion gallons (1 trillion liters).

About 3,100 mi (12,900 km3) of water, mostly in the form of water vapor, is in the atmosphere at any given time. If it all fell as rain at once, the Earth would be covered by only 1 inch of water. The 48 contiguous (lower 48 states) United States receives a total amount of rainfall of about 4 miles (17.7 km) each day.

Each day, 280 mi (1,170 km) of water evaporates or goes into the atmosphere. If all of the world's water were poured onto the United States, it would cover land to a depth of about 107 miles (145 kilometers).

Of the freshwater on Earth, much more is stored in the ground than is available in rivers and lakes. Earth has more than 2,000,000 mi (8,400,000 km) of freshwater reserves, which are within half a mile of the surface. But, if you really want to explore freshwater, most of the 7,000,000 mi3 (29,200,000 km3) is stored in water, which is mainly found in glaciers and icecaps in the polar regions and Greenland.