AICE Geography Vocabulary By Bernard Sarmiento - Mr. Peter Ndiang'ui's Class

The area drained by a river and all its tributaries. Also called catchment area. It's boundary is known as a watershed.

A system is a set of interrelated components working together towards some kind of process; a method of analyzing relationships within a unit and consists of a number of components between which there are linkages. A system has three parts - inputs, processes and outputs.

Addition of matter, energy, or information to a system.

Movement of matter, energy, or information out of a system.

A supply or stock of something, especially one for future use. In a drainage system, there are five storages - surface storage, vegetation storage, soil water storage, channel storage and groundwater storage

To move along in a stream. In a drainage system, there are four types of flows - throughfall stemflow, overland flow (surface runoff), throughflow, groundwater flow (baseflow) and channel flow.

Any and all forms of water, liquid or solid, that falls from clouds and reaches the ground. This includes drizzle, freezing drizzle, freezing rain, hail, ice crystals, ice pellets, rain, snow, snow pellets, and snow grains. The amount of fall is usually expressed in inches of liquid water depth of the substance that has fallen at a given point over a specified time period.

The process of liquid water becoming water vapor, including vaporization from water surfaces, land surfaces, and snow fields, but not from leaf surfaces.

The water lost from an area through the combined effects of evaporation from the ground surface and transpiration from the vegetation.

Is the capture of precipitation by the plant canopy and its subsequent return to the atmosphere through evaporation or sublimation. The amount of precipitation intercepted by plants varies with leaf type, canopy architecture, wind speed, available radiation, temperature, and the humidity of the atmosphere.

Describes the process of precipitation passing through the plant canopy. This process is controlled by factors like: plant leaf and stem density, type of the precipitation, intensity of the precipitation and duration of the precipitation event. The amount of precipitation passing through varies greatly with vegetation type.

Is the process that directs precipitation down plant branches and stems. The redirection of water by this process causes the ground area around the plant's stem to receive additional moisture. The amount of stemflow is determined by leaf shape and stem and branch architecture. In general, deciduous trees have more stemflow than coniferous vegetation.

The topographic movement of a thin film of water from precipitation to lower elevations. With time, this water will begin to organizing its flow into small channels called rills. The rills converge to form progressively larger channels until stream channels are formed. Occurs when the infiltration capacity of an area's soil has been exceeded. Also called sheet flow or runoff.

The absorption and downward movement of water into the soil layer; process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil

Vertical movement or infiltration of water from the Earth's surface to its subsurface. Movement usually stops when the flowing water reaches the water table; the process by which water infiltrates the ground by seeping into the spaces between soil particles, sand and rocks