Articles On Earth

1) Soils and residues

What about the approximately 90% of the rest of the Earth that has been or will
soon be transformed to maintain the human population, as a space for housing,
food production, afforestation, mineral production, hunting, etc.? What happens
with our own ecology?

Is it possible for the Earth to maintain indefinitely an expanding human population

with a high quality of life? To what extent are human values compatible with
natural values? That is, can natural and artificial ecosystems be interspersed or are
reserves the only alternative for totally altered and anthropized environments and
their domesticated species?

Undoubtedly, a sustainable biosphere will never be achieved as long as the human

population continues to grow. The Earth does not offer new regions to colonize.

It is easy to be pessimistic about the future, but there is also a lot of room for
optimism. Many programs designed to clean up the environment and protect
endangered species have had undeniable success and these programs have not
been limited to developed countries. Environmental concerns are shared by people
around the globe. In addition, there are relatively simple ecological and engineering
solutions for most environmental problems. However, to make these solutions
effective, we must develop the willingness to value the long-term sustainable use of
the Earth's resources over the short-term benefits of rapid and unplanned
development. We must also recognize certain undeniable facts that govern the
rational development of natural resources:

We must accept the fact that the human population of the Earth will continue to
increase, at least in the near future, and that most of the earth's surface and
oceans will be dedicated to maintaining that population.

Given these premises, we must manage the planet in order to maintain natural
processes in a healthy state. If attention is paid to the basic principles of ecology it
is possible to implement management practices that minimize interference with the
ability of ecosystems to maintain and respond to disturbance while maximizing their
production for human use.

We must recognize that different ecosystems present different optimal uses and
that certain exploitation and management practices are friendly to the environment
while others are not.

The most productive regions of the Earth do not necessarily correspond to the areas
with the highest human population density. These imbalances can be overcome by
transporting food, materials and energy from one region to another, which will
require a high level of international communication, cooperation and shared
welfare.

The objective of maintaining a sustainable biosphere can only be met if the costs,
both short and long term, of population growth and ecological mismanagement are
fully evaluated and assigned to the goods and services that produce them.

Human activity develops processes involved in biological production and in the

regulation of communities and ecosystems. These processes occur in both artificial
and natural ecosystems. Two key aspects of the functioning of ecosystems are the
use of energy and the continuous recycling of materials. In natural systems the
primary source of energy is sunlight; recycling is achieved by different regenerative
processes, some of them physical or chemical and others biological. In any of these
processes, an imbalance that leads to the accumulation or depletion of some
component of an ecosystem will normally set in motion mechanisms of restoration
that push the system back into a state of self-sustaining equilibrium.

The restoration processes can be physical, but more often they include biological
transformations. From the composition of the atmosphere to the most basic
characteristic of many habitats, plants, animals and microbes have greatly modified
the condition of terrestrial surfaces and water on Earth and are responsible for
maintaining their qualities. When the natural processes are interrupted the
environments can undergo a drastic change and, what is worse, they can lose their
ability to respond to the disturbance and be degraded permanently. Therefore,
maintaining a sustainable biosphere requires that we preserve the ecological
processes responsible for its productivity.

All human activities have consequences for the environment and fishing is a good
example of this. The objective is to obtain a food resource for human consumption.
But when the short-term income of a fishery is maximized-extracting as long as
possible-the fish stocks are reduced or even disappear, the fishery breaks down
and the attention is directed towards other exploitable populations.

Fishing, hunting, grazing, gathering firewood, extracting wood, etc., are classic
interactions. In most natural systems these interactions achieve a state of
equilibrium because as a resource becomes scarce the efficiency of exploitation falls
vertically and then consumer populations begin to decline or seek alternative
resources until consumers and their first resource are brought back to balance. The
efficiency of exploitation and the ability of resources to resist it are characteristics
of consumers and the resources that have evolved during long periods of
interaction.

In economic systems, interactions can also reach equilibrium because as a resource

becomes scarce and its price increases, the demand for that resource diminishes;
people get by without it or find cheaper alternatives. However, since the ability of
the human population to exploit natural systems has grown out of all proportion
because of their ability to use tools, renewable resources will probably not become
scarce until they are almost on the verge of exhaustion and can not sustain even a
reduced exploitation. Technological skills have advanced too fast for nature to
follow them; Human beings have achieved dominance with their weapons, plows
and chainsaws. Consequently, many ecosystems that historically sustained the
growth of the human population, such as the great forests and grasslands of North
America, have been transformed for other uses.

The alteration of the basic nature of a habitat often alters the natural processes of
regeneration and control and leads to negative consequences that, among all, we
must minimize.

Humanity has the option of adopting a new attitude regarding its relationship with
nature. We are part of nature, we are not separated from it. Since our intelligence,
our culture and our technology have given us the power to dominate nature, we
must also use these capabilities to impose self-regulation and self-limitation. This is
the biggest challenge we face. We have had a spectacular success in becoming a
technological species. Our survival now depends on our becoming an ecological
species and on occupying our rightful place in the economy of nature.

2) SOIL CONTAMINATION
The recovery of contaminated soils is also affected by the approval of Law 10/1998,
on Waste, since for the first time in our legal system a specific legal regulation for
contaminated soils is established.

Although only this problem has been collected in some articles of the law, it is
foreseen a subsequent development to prescribe that the Government must
establish criteria and standards so that the Autonomous Communities can declare
objectively that a soil is contaminated. Once they have done so, their marginal
annotation in the Land Registry is possible, thus avoiding the possibility of fraud in
the disposals of these lands.

In addition, the responsibility of the person who has contaminated is clearly stated,
and the recovery of the damage caused must be assumed, returning the
contaminated site to its natural being, without prejudice to the responsibilities
contracted with third parties.

As a way to prevent soil contamination, a list will be established for the whole
country of those activities that, due to the raw materials they use or the process
they carry out, can generate hazardous substances as waste or by-product. The
Autonomous Communities will keep track of the activities in their territory that are
included in this list.

Finally, it articulates an aspect of great importance for the effectiveness in the

management of contaminated soils by raising the possibility that those responsible
for pollution may be encouraged to proceed with their cleanup through
contributions from the Autonomous Communities, which subsequently have to be
returned adequate time and, at least, in the same amount or by cession of goods
for the same value, for example in land that may be affected by the capital gains
that are generated after the recovery of the land, by an urban requalification.

Not having to circumscribe exclusively to lands of public ownership overcomes an

obstacle that has been appearing in the development of the National Plan for the
Recovery of Contaminated Soils, in which only 50% of actions performed on land
were eligible for financing by the State. of public ownership being thus excluded
most of them and the most problematic.

This continues to be developed and the action of the State Administration in this
area is guided and the basic lines of funding are set for the Autonomous
Communities, which are assigned the powers to act on the contaminated soils
detected in their respective territories.

This financing, which is regulated in the bilateral agreements established between

the Ministry of Environment and each of the Councils of the Communities

Autonomous companies that are in charge of environmental management,

materializes in nominal credit transfers to each one of the CC AAs for an amount
that is a function of the risk of their sites and urgency in recovering them, and of
the priority they have established in your Budget to act in this field.
The contribution in the recovery of contaminated soils is 50% of the budget of each
action by each of the two Administrations.

The coordination of the Conventions has been maintained in meetings held with
each of the Autonomous Communities throughout the year in which the action
program has been monitored. In them, the sites on which actions were to be taken
during the year were decided and results of the previous year were examined.

The table shows the actions, distributed by Autonomous Communities, indicating

the investment made. The actions that are being carried out in the Community of
Andalusia, in the landfills of Los Asperones, in Malaga, and in Acebuchal in Seville,
both with funding from European Cohesion Funds, should be highlighted. In
Asturias, the site known as Venta del Jamón has been cleared, affected by the
construction of a road and the Coaña Landfill has also been operated.
3) BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
ENVIRONMENTAL RESIDUES
Some of the fractions that make up urban solid waste are inert. The organic
fractions are those that are subject to biological processes. The biodegradability of
these originates the natural production of biogases and practically inert products
that are integrated into the natural environment.

All the recovery processes that seek the production of fertilizers and the energy use
of biogas, require the complete knowledge of these mechanisms.

The biodegradability of organic products, components of the ecosystem, are subject

to the action of other organisms that produce fundamental transformations of their
nature. According to these transformations occur in the presence or absence of
different microorganisms, the products will be different, with a time dynamic,
smells and other parameters very varied.

The biological transformations require certain conditions and organic matter with
enough nutrients for the bacteria and microorganisms to develop. The most
biodegradable fractions are the remains of food and gardening, and the least
biodegradable are paper and cardboard. The processes of biological transformation
are accompanied by the production of biogas and the reactions

secondary that can produce metal sulfides and other compounds that, with the
passage of time, are the focus of the characteristic odors of the fermentation of
urban solid waste.

The environmental hazards of urban solid waste arise from their chemical and
bacteriological characteristics as soon as they come into contact with soil and
water, and, therefore, their risks as a factor of contamination appear when they are
uncontrolled released into the environment .

The contamination can be produced by landfill, by water contact or by emission

when dealing with gases released into the atmosphere and produced in the
processes of biological transformation. In these processes, biogases of different
nature are also produced, depending on whether the fermentation is aerobic or
anaerobic, gases that also affect the environmental balance.

Special mention should be made of small fractions of specific hazards, such as used
batteries, sanitary waste and toxic and dangerous waste produced in homes. The
production of odors comes from the organic fractions of urban solid waste that, in
their transformation stages, produce complex sulfur compounds such as methyl
mercaptan. Even biogases

product of controlled fermentations, are rich in methane, and seriously damage the
ozone layer and favor the greenhouse effect.

Another environmental risk is the proliferation of unwanted vectors, insects and

rodents, which may cause risks of disease propagation. It should also be mentioned
that the rains can drag some fractions of the uncontrolled waste left unchecked to
the water courses. According to the nature of the entrained fractions, the
contamination of both surface and underground water can be serious and affect the
food chain and the environment. A final environmental problem is caused by the
abandonment of waste, which modifies the landscape and creates negative visual
impacts.

4) PROTECTION OF THE GREEN

SPACES
The plants in the city live in more precarious conditions than in their natural
environment, which makes them weaker and less resistant to aggression. Citizens,
for their part, use public parks as a space for multiple activities, some of them little
compatible with the good conservation of plant spaces. Combining these two
interests is a long-term task that requires a good civic education of the users.
However, there are various instruments that contribute to safeguarding the
integrity of urban green, from awareness programs to specific protection measures
for high-value plant specimens.

The most effective measure to preserve the city's green heritage is the prevention
and protection of its most important elements, which tend to be trees of great
ecological, aesthetic or historical value, either because they are rare, of great
beauty, centenarians, or because they are part of the collective memory and the
urban history of their environment. The city council of Barcelona initiated the
systematic cataloging of trees of special value, which were automatically protected
and which can not under any circumstances be transplanted, eliminated or
mutilated.

The Granada standard also helps to protect the trees. This norm, which was
established in 1990 at a meeting held in Granada with the support of UNESCO, has
been adopted by various Spanish municipalities with the status of a legal
compliance standard. It is a system that allows to establish the economic value of a
tree that is damaged by accident, vandalism or other factors, or that is affected by
works on public roads. In this way, the person or entity that produces the damage
is obliged to compensate for the loss of the specimen by restitution of the economic
value of the affected tree. The principle of the rule is that each tree is part of the
natural heritage of the city and, as such, common property of all citizens. The
prices that determine the price of the tree are: age, rarity of the species, degree of
development, probability of success in replanting, speed of growth, historical
significance if there is one, etc. The species are grouped into three basic categories:
palms, broadleaves and conifers, with different valuation scales. The real price of
the affected copy, either totally or partially, is proportional to the difficult
impossibility of replacing it with a new copy.

Vandalism affects urban public spaces with as much or more intensity than any
harmful organism coming from nature. There are two types of vandalism: the
systematic, with serious characteristics due to its capacity

destructora, y otro que podría llamarse recreativo en el sentido que es una forma
brutal e incívica de pasar el rato. Uno y otro son igualmente problemáticos para
el verde urbano público, ya que se ceban en los elementos de mobiliario urbano;
fanales, bancos, papeleras, fuentes, juegos infantiles, instalaciones y, por
supuesto, en las plantas. Las estrategias para evitarlo son complementarias:
reemplazar los elementos dañados de forma inmediata para borrar la huella de la
 acción y mermar la satisfacción del daño producido, atacar las causas sociales que
lo generan y, finalmente, incrementar la vigilancia de los espacios públicos con
autoridad suficiente para imponer sanciones disuasorias.

Estrategias para evitar el deterioro del verde. La mejor medida de protección es

la complicidad de los ciudadanos. Los espacios muy utilizados se conservan mejor
que aquellos que lo son menos, porque son los mismos usuarios quienes se
encargan de vigilar un parque que consideran propio.

Evaluación de la calidad. El uso de un espacio verde está condicionado a múltiples

factores relacionados con su ubicación, servicios, horarios de apertura, etc. La
calidad de la conservación también afecta mucho al objetivo del espacio verde: su
disfrute por parte del ciudadano. La buena conservación de los cultivos y de las
instalaciones aporta una serie de ventajas que se resumen en costos más bajos al
evitar la reposición de cultivos y, sobre todo, satisfacción del ciudadano. La
calidad no es fácil medirla, ya que se ve afectada por múltiples variables
independientes de los programas que se planifiquen: un cambio climático, una
sequía, condiciones propicias a la propagación de plagas, influencia anormal del
vandalismo, etc. Sin embargo, siempre es conveniente establecer programas de
control de la calidad. El conocimiento de la calidad puede efectuarse según dos
criterios:
Control de realización sobre los servicios programados. Conviene realizar algunas
inspecciones aleatorias que resuman el grado de realización y la calidad con que
se han hecho, estableciendo cinco grados de ponderación que irán desde una
calidad pésima a un nivel óptimo. Este sistema se puede desglosar en varios
factores como:
Estado de la maquinaria y herramientas: filos, ruido, humos, imagen, etc.
Método operativo: productividades, dosificaciones, etc.
Aspectos medioambientales, gestión de residuos, uso de herbicidas, etc.
Otros.

Control real sobre la situación de los cultivos. Se hace una tabla de muestreos
que defina los espacios concretos a controlar y la definición exacta de los
aspectos y detalles técnicos. Las características concretas dependerán del cultivo
pero, a modo de ejemplo, pueden indicarse:
Arbustos. Hierbas indeseadas, ramas fuera de la estructura, humedades, follaje
deteriorado o seco, etc.
Vivaces. Calvas en la plantación, malas hierbas, suciedad, etc.
Otras.
Articles about Water

5) DRY RESIDUE DETERMINATION

In general terms, we speak of "residue" when we refer to solid matter in
suspension or dissolved in water. The waste can significantly affect the quality of a
water and, therefore, limit its uses. Highly mineralized waters with high residue are
less acceptable for beverages, they impart taste to water and can cause
gastrointestinal irritation in domestic uses and some specific industrial uses. For
these reasons, the Spanish technical-sanitary regulation includes the dry residue at
110ºC as a physical-chemical character, establishing as a guide quality value a
content up to 750 mg / l of water and as a maximum tolerable limit up to 1,500 mg
/ l of water.

Depending on the conditions in which the determination of the waste is carried out,
it receives several denominations.

The term "total waste" is applied to the remaining material after evaporation of a
water sample and drying at a certain temperature of 110 ° C. The total waste
includes the "non-filterable residue", which is the one that is retained in the filter,
the sample, and the "filterable residue", which is the one that passes through it.
These two terms correspond to that of solids or residues in suspension and
dissolved, respectively.

The WHO in its international standards for drinking water, considers 500 mg / l as
the maximum desirable concentration, and 1,500 mg / l as the maximum
admissible concentration.

The analysis of settleable solids present in a water sample indicates the amount of
solids that can be sedimented from a given volume of sample in a given time. It is
a measure of the amount of solids that can be removed in the primary treatment of
wastewater.

The determination of total solids allows estimating the amount of dissolved and
suspended matter carried by a water.

The solids in suspension are determined by the weight difference of a filtrate

through which the sample is passed.

The determination of the dry residue at 110 ° C can be carried out by the
gravimetric method after evaporation and drying of the sample. This method is
applicable to potable, superficial and residual waters, both domestic and industrial.
A homogenized sample is evaporated and dried to a constant weight at 110 ° C as
an increase in tare. At this temperature one loses
part or all of the inter-union and crystallization water, passing the bicarbonates to
carbonates as a loss of CO2.

6) UNDERGROUND WATER
Groundwater is what lies beneath the earth's surface and occupies the pores and
fissures of the strongest rocks. In general, it maintains a temperature very similar
to the annual average in the area, therefore, in the Arctic regions, it can freeze.

The deeper groundwater may remain hidden for thousands or millions of years.
However, most of the deposits are shallow and play a discreet but constant role
within the hydrological cycle.

Globally, groundwater represents about twenty times more than the total surface
water of all continents and islands, hence the importance of this water as a reserve
and as a freshwater resource. In addition, it has an important role in nature. The
effect of the large water reserve on the annual flow is essential to maintain the
base flow of many rivers and soil moisture in the riverbanks and low areas.

Groundwater is of essential importance to our civilization because it is the largest

reservoir of drinking water in regions inhabited by humans. It can appear on the
surface in the form of springs, or it can be extracted by wells. In times of drought,
it can serve to maintain the flow of surface water, but even when there is no
shortage, it is preferable to use groundwater because it does not tend to be
contaminated by waste or microorganisms. Although groundwater is less polluted
than surface water, contamination of this resource has also become a concern in
industrialized countries.

Currently, in Spain, the extraction of groundwater supplies an approximate volume

of 5,500 cubic hectometres, of which a maximum of 1,500 are destined to the
drinking water supply to the populations, and the rest, to agricultural irrigations.

It should be noted that the role of groundwater in the supply of drinking water is
relevant, because it depends on the supply to a population of more than 12 million
inhabitants. The use of groundwater for irrigation in Spain is no less spectacular,
since it has meant important benefits that in many cases have been superior to
those obtained with the use of surface water.

Due to a series of uncontrolled actions on the part of some individuals, the aquifers
have been seen in an exploited way. This has significantly impaired, giving rise to
problems of various kinds, such as the depletion of reserves, deterioration of water
quality, and economic and environmental impacts, etc.

The problem of overexploitation affects a large number of aquifers used as source

of drinking water supply, it is estimated that at least 58 hydrological units used for
 this purpose, suffer from this problem, this means that at least between 20 and
30% of groundwater resources are threatened their sustainability.

The mobility of groundwater depends on the type of underground rocks in each

location. The permeable saturated layers capable of providing a useful water supply
are known as aquifers, and are usually formed by sands, gravels, limestones or
basalts. Other layers, such as clays, slates, glacial moraines and silts tend to
reduce the flow of groundwater. Impervious rocks are called aquifers or basement
rocks.

In permeable zones, the surface layer of the water saturation area is called the
water table. When in very populated areas or very irrigated arid areas water is
extracted from the subsoil too much, the water table can descend very quickly,
making it impossible to access it, even resorting to very deep wells.

The control and monitoring of groundwater, systematically, is recent. Let's see, as

an example, the evolution in Catalonia.

In 1995, the actions of the Sanitation Board in the field of groundwater began to be
evident. The consolidation of the team of hydrogeologists that constitutes the
Underground Water Unit allowed us to expand the study of areas and aquifers of
interest as well as give a strong impetus to the quality control network that now
consists of more than 900 wells.

Respecto al estudio de áreas y acuíferos de interés, se emiten:

Informes perceptivos y vinculantes, de acuerdo con lo que dispone la Ley

19/1991, de reforma de la Junta de Saneamiento, en las concesiones y
autorizaciones de recursos y aprovechamientos hidráulicos, y otros temas de la
misma indole y naturaleza.

Informes sobre afecciones al medio referido a episodios de contaminación puntual o

de riesgo de afecciones, respuesta a alegaciones, dictámenes y estudios
específicos.En lo referente al control de la calidad, se dispone de redes de control en
las áreas o acuíferos del Pía de la Plana de Vic, el Ter en su tramo medio, las rieras
de Aubí y Calonge, Ridaura, el Pía d'Urgell, el río Congost, el río Mogent, la Tordera
medio y baja, la Conca de Barberá, Carme-Capellades, el Llobregat (cubetas de
Abrera y Sant Andreu, parte baja y delta), el Camp de Tarragona, les Sorres de
Santa Oliva y el río Ebro.

Estas redes comprenden más de 900 pozos. Se determina la composición

fisicoquímica del agua (balance íónico) con carácter anual. Los organohalogenados
volátiles, disolventes no halogenados y metales se determinan selectivamente con
periodicidad trimestral, semestral o anual según la vulnerabilidad y el estado inicial
de las diversas áreas de riesgo. Además de esta red primaria de control, se explota
una red secundaria en relación con episodios concretos de contaminación, como es el
caso de los organohalogenados en el delta del Llobregat, los dioxanos en la Tordera,
la gasolina en el Baix Llobregat u otros.

Hay que comentar, también, la red de salinidad por intrusión marina en los acuíferos
costeros, una red de control de unos 300 pozos desde el golfo de Roses hasta la
desembocadura del río de la Sénia. Esta red forma parte de la primaria de control y
se muestrea con periodicidad anual.

Al igual que Cataluña, otras zonas españolas han avanzado en el estudio y control de
las aguas subterráneas, teniendo cada vez más conocimiento técnico de las mismas
y posibilitando su control y mejor aprovechamiento.
7) THE HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
The Earth and the atmosphere that surrounds it contain large amounts of water.
About 97% of the water on Earth is salty, the rest, 3%, is in the form of ice. Only
0.7% of Earth's water is sweet, and it is found in the form of lakes, rivers, aquifers
and steam.

Surface water is an essential component of the water cycle in the troposphere.

These constitute a means in which natural resources experience the physical,
chemical and biological processes that govern their physical evolution. Water in the
biosphere transports matter and energy, supports the development of life, is part of
inert matter in variable proportions and is an essential and major component of
living matter.

The first phase of the hydrological cycle is evaporation. This takes place on the
surface of the sea, especially in warm areas. This water in the form of vapor gas,
passes into the atmosphere causing the formation of clouds that will be responsible
for precipitation.

Clouds are condensed forms of atmospheric moisture composed of tiny drops of

water or tiny ice crystals. These are the main visible atmospheric phenomenon. As
such, they represent a transitory, albeit vital, step in the water cycle. This cycle
includes the evaporation of moisture from the surface of the Earth, its transport to
higher levels of the atmosphere, the condensation of water vapor in cloud masses
and the final return of water to the earth in the form of rain and snow precipitation.

In meteorology, cloud formation due to air cooling causes the condensation of

invisible water vapor into visible droplets or ice particles. The particles that make
up the clouds have a size that varies between 5 and 75 microns, 0.0005 cm and
0.008 cm. The particles are so small that they hold light vertical currents in the air.

The differences between cloud formations derive, in part, from the different
condensation temperatures. When it occurs at temperatures below freezing, the
clouds are usually composed of ice crystals. Those that form in warmer air are
usually composed of droplets of water. However, sometimes "supercooled" clouds
contain droplets of water

temperatures below freezing.

The movement of air associated with the development of clouds also affects their
formation. The clouds that are created in air at rest tend to appear in layers or
strata. Those that are formed between winds or air with strong vertical currents
present a great vertical development.

The clouds play a very important role, as they modify the distribution of solar heat
on the earth's surface and in the atmosphere. In general, since the reflection of the
upper part of the clouds is greater than that of the surface of the Earth, the amount
of solar energy reflected to the space is greater in cloudy days. Although most of
the solar radiation is reflected by the upper layers of the clouds, some radiation
penetrates to the Earth's surface, which absorbs it and emits it again. The lower
part of the clouds is opaque for this long-wave terrestrial radiation and reflects it
back to Earth.

The result is that the lower atmosphere absorbs, in general, more heat energy on
cloudy days due to the presence of this trapped radiation. On the contrary, on a
clear day, the surface of the Earth initially absorbs more solar radiation, but this
energy dissipates very quickly due to the absence of clouds. Without considering
other related weather effects, the atmosphere absorbs less radiation on clear days
than on cloudy days.

Cloudiness has a considerable influence on human activities. Rain, vital for the
production of food plants, derives from the formation of clouds. In the early days of
aviation, visibility was affected by clouds. With the development of the flight with
instruments that allow the pilot to navigate inside a large cloud, this obstacle has
been mitigated.

The first scientific study of the clouds was made in 1803, when the British
meteorologist Luke Howard devised a cloud classification method. The following was
the publication, in 1887, of a classification system that later served as the
foundation of the well-known International Atlas of the Clouds of 1896. This atlas is
revised and modified regularly and is used throughout the world.

The clouds are usually divided into four main families according to their height:
high clouds, medium clouds, low clouds and vertical development clouds. These last
ones can extend throughout all the heights. These four divisions can be subdivided
into gender, species and variety, describing in detail the appearance and mode of
cloud formation. More than one hundred different types of clouds are distinguished.

High clouds are composed of ice particles, located at average altitudes of 8

kilometers above the earth. This family contains three main genres:

The cirri are isolated, have feathery appearance and in strands, often with hooks or
tufts, and are arranged in bands.

The cirrostratus appears as a thin, whitish veil; sometimes they show a fibrous
structure and, when they are located between the observer and the Moon, they
give rise to haloes.

The cirrocumulus forms balloons and small, white tufts similar to cotton; They are
placed in groups or rows.

The average clouds are composed of droplets of water, have a variable altitude,
between 3 and 6 kilometers above the earth. This family includes two main genres:

The high strata resemble thick gray or blue veils, through which the Sun and the
Moon can only be seen diffusely, as if behind a translucent crystal.
Altocumulus looks like dense, fluffy, spongy globes a little older than cirrus cumulus
clouds. The brightness of the Sun and the Moon through them can produce a
crown, or colored ring, of much smaller diameter than a halo.

Low clouds are also composed of droplets of water, usually have an altitude of less
than 1.6 kilometers. This group comprises three main types:

Stratocumulus are large rolls of clouds, light in appearance and gray in color. They
often cover the whole sky. Because the cloud mass is not usually thick, patches of
blue sky often appear between the cloud ceiling.

The nimbostratus are thick, dark and shapeless. They are precipitation clouds, from
which it almost always rains or snows.

The strata are high layers of fog. They appear, like a flat white mantle, at heights
usually less than 600 meters. When they fracture by the action of the hot air in
ascent, a blue and clear sky is seen.

The clouds of vertical development reach altitudes that vary from less than 1.6 to
13 kilometers above the earth. This group includes two main types:

The clusters are dome-shaped or hanks of wool. They are usually seen during the
middle and end of the day, when solar heat produces the vertical air currents
necessary for their formation. The lower part is, in general, flat and the upper part
rounded, similar to a cauliflower.

The cumulonimbus clouds are dark and heavy looking. They rise at great heights,
like mountains, and sometimes show a veil of ice clouds, false cirrus, anvil-shaped
at its summit. These stormy clouds are often accompanied by violent and
intermittent showers.

An anomalous group of clouds is one that includes pearly clouds, or mother-of-pearl

clouds, with altitudes between 19 and 29 kilometers, and noctilucent clouds, with
altitudes between 51 and 56 kilometers. These very thin clouds can be seen only
between sunset and sunrise, at high latitudes.
8) USES OF WATER
Surface water, rivers, streams, lakes ... can be considered for their use from
different points of view, among which the following stand out: as a natural
resource, as a source of supply, as a receiving medium for other water flows, and
as a source and medium receiver of thermal and mechanical energy.

Water as a natural resource. Water is characterized by its great mobility and the
fact that it is one of the most active natural resources in the biosphere. Its
hydraulic, torrential or slow regime, and the interaction with the territory that
surrounds it mark the process in time and the physical, chemical and biological
evolution.

The living beings that inhabit the water have adapted to the natural conditions of
the water, so that they are able to withstand the variations of both quality and
quantity of this medium without their presence usually producing harmful effects on
the same water resource.

On the other hand, human activities have been the cause in some cases of more
intense and rapid changes than those recorded in the past in these natural
environments, with unfavorable consequences both for the resource itself and for
the living beings that depend on it.

The recovery and preservation of the flora and fauna of a natural bed can lead to
quality levels and a flow regime as demanding as those that require other water
uses.

Water as a source of supply

Surface water is the most frequent source of supply, whether for public supply,
agricultural irrigation, industrial and livestock activities or other uses. From this
perspective, the quality requirements with the possible utilities and the availability
of sufficient flows are important points of reference. The regulation of this resource,
through the use of reservoirs, in improving quantitative availability, can
substantially modify its chemical and biological quality if the possible deterioration
of aesthetic attributes and the conservation of life in water or eutrophication is not
controlled.

The availability of water for supply and the possibilities as a means of transport
offered by surface water courses have led to the development of urban settlements.
Also, obtaining food through fishing, agricultural irrigation and livestock have
historically favored urban, agricultural and industrial development in the vicinity of
surface water courses. Z Although the volume of water generally recommended for
consumption
direct human is two liters per inhabitant per day, the cost of the item per person is
not limited to that amount. The minimum water supply recommended by the
Spanish technical regulation for domestic supply is one hundred liters per inhabitant
per day, the most frequent water supplies in large cities are between one hundred
and fifty two hundred liters per inhabitant per day. This urban allocation includes
both domestic and industrial consumption, irrigation and so-called losses of the
supply network. On the other hand, the water consumption that makes the industry
is very variable and depends on the type of activity and the degree of modernity of
the facilities.

Water as a means of transport

The natural or artificial water beds are an excellent means of transport widely used
in the industrialized countries of the northern hemisphere, although in Spain it is a
practice that has almost disappeared.

Water as a receiving medium for other water flows

The consideration of water as a physical means to transport and dispose of a good

number of waste from its users has made the physical, chemical and biological
balance of it is widely exceeded in certain conditions, and that it reaches an
unacceptable level of deterioration in certain cases.

The concept of self-purification would thus come to designate the capacity of a

natural environment, in this case surface water, to accept a certain contribution of
substances or energy, without undergoing significant changes in its quality. The
controversy arises when one begins to analyze the degree of significance of the
modifications, such as those that affect dissolved oxygen, biological productivity or
the enrichment of certain substances.

Water as a source and medium receiver of thermal energy

The creation of various energy generation techniques has developed between the
balance of the demand for natural resources and the need to conserve them, while
protecting the life that unfolds in them.

Within this framework, surface water is an irreplaceable medium when generating

energy through hydroelectric power plants, as well as a physical element for the
transport of thermal energy.

The use of surface water for these purposes can alter the natural balance either
directly, by the variation of the flow or temperature, or indirectly, by the effects
derived from the regulation in dams or the forced circulation regime to which You
can see them submitted. The environmental impact of reservoirs, for example,
makes their presence a cause of controversy.

A similar case is that of thermal power plants that cause the rise of surface water
temperatures. These effects on the environment mean that its location and power
are limited, affecting both the investment costs and the production of electricity.
This also introduces a differentiating element between countries that influences
their development possibilities
9) THE RIVERS
Rivers are a clear example of surface water. They are defined as the natural flow of
water that flows through a bed, from an elevated place to a lower one. The vast
majority of rivers drain into the sea or into a lake, although some disappear
because their waters seep into the earth or evaporate into the atmosphere.

They constitute an important source of water supply for both agricultural and
domestic uses. But, in recent years, rivers have been affected by the negative
effects of pollution.

The amount of water that flows through a river, flow, varies in time and space.
These variations define the hydrological regime of a river. Temporal variations
occur during or just after storms. Runoff from the stream increases the flow. In
extreme cases flooding may occur when the water supply is greater than the
capacity of the river to evacuate it, overflowing and covering the nearby flat areas
or floodplain.

The water that circulates underground, such as the water flowing in furrows or
underground water, takes much longer to feed the flow of the river and can reach it
days, weeks or months after the rain that generated the runoff. Besides, the flow of
a river contributed by groundwater is called basal flow, which fluctuates according
to the height of the water table.

If it does not rain at all or the average rainfall is lower than normal for long periods
of time, the river can dry up when the rainwater accumulated in the soil and the
subsoil reduce the basal flow to zero. This can have disastrous consequences for
the life of the river and its banks and for the people who depend on it for their
water supply.

The spatial variation occurs because the flow of the river increases downstream, as
the waters of the drainage basin are collected and the contributions of the basins of
other rivers that join it as tributaries. Because of this, the river is usually small in
the mountains, near its source, and much larger in the lowlands, close to its mouth.
The exception is deserts, in which the amount of water lost through filtration or
evaporation in the atmosphere exceeds the amount contributed by surface
currents. For example,
The flow of the Nile, which is the longest river in the world, decreases markedly as
it descends from the mountains of the Sudan and Ethiopia through the Nubian and
Sahara desert to the Mediterranean Sea.

The quantity, variations and regularity of the waters of a river are of enormous
importance for the plants, animals and people who live along its course. The rivers
and their flood plains sustain diverse and valuable ecosystems, not only for the
capacity of fresh water to allow life but also for the abundant plants and insects
that they maintain and that form the base of the trophic chains. In the bed of the
rivers, fish feed on plants and insects are food for birds, amphibians, reptiles and
mammals. Outside the channel, the wetlands produced by water filtration and
flooding host rich and varied environments, not only important for the native
species, but also for the migratory birds and the animals that use the wetlands as a
place of passage in their seasonal migrations. The ecosystems of the rivers, also
called fluvial ecosystems, can be considered as a group belonging to the most
important of nature and their existence depends entirely on the regime of the
same. Therefore, great care must be taken not to alter this regime when acting on
the river and its basin, since an ineffective management of water resources or their
overexploitation can have disastrous effects for the riparian ecosystem.

The use of rivers And the conflict between nature and the exploitation of river
resources is not something new. Rivers and their floodplains, estuaries and deltas
have played a central role in history, as they have influenced agriculture, transport,
industry, landfill and human settlements. In fact, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in
present-day Iraq, converted Mesopotamia, which literally means 'between rivers',
into the cradle of civilization by the second half of the 4th millennium BC. The long
historical association between society and rivers is evident because of their great
strategic, commercial and religious importance. For example, the Ganges in India is
sacred to Hindus, who visit it for purification by bathing in its waters.

Initially, the rivers attracted the population for the security they offered in the
water supply and the rich agricultural land they provided. Along the river you could
travel and explore new regions or transport bulky products over long distances
without the need to build roads that crossed difficult terrain or thick vegetation.
Later he helped in the early days of the industrial revolution by providing both an
important raw material and a source of energy to power the ferris wheels. Many
industries still remain along rivers, although they no longer use this hydraulic
energy commercially.

In many cases, rivers have been used as sinks for agricultural and industrial waste.
Thanks to its current and ecological nature, rivers are able to regenerate
themselves by admitting quantities

amazing tributaries. However, all the rivers have a capacity limit of assimilation of
residual waters and fertilizers from the cultivated lands. If this limit is exceeded,
the proliferation of bacteria, algae and plant life will consume all the oxygen
dissolved in the water, eutrophication, which causes the destruction of the entire
fluvial ecosystem since the trophic chains are interrupted.
The contamination of water by chemical substances that are not usually present in
the system can have terrible consequences, since the rivers are very vulnerable to
poisoning by the toxic products generated by mining, foundries and industry, such
as heavy metals: lead , zinc, cadmium ..., acids, solvents, etc.

These chemicals not only destroy life at the time of contamination, but also
accumulate slowly in the sediments and soils of the floodplain. The mutations and
sterility that they provoke in the animals when eating the vegetation that grows on
these lands, in which the pollutants are concentrated, can lead to the irreversible
destruction of entire natural communities and to the permanent degradation of the
landscapes.

Humans and animals are not exempt from the dangers that derive from the direct
consumption of water or food that comes from these rivers and contaminated soil.
The public health problems that may arise are real, although they are not
sufficiently studied.

Most of the rivers of the industrialized nations are contaminated to a greater or

lesser degree. The society of tomorrow must not only face the challenge of reducing
the current contributions of pollutants, but also will have to reconstruct the natural
ecology of these rivers. You will have to clean the floors and sediments of the
chemical substances that contaminate them to make water consumption safe.

In developing countries, the challenge is not to repeat the mistakes made by the
industrialized nations and to prevent pollution of their virgin rivers and ecosystems.
The rivers of these countries, as in the case of the Amazon in South America, are
the last refuge of many species of animals and plants and the water supply they
can provide is the best hope for the sustainable development of many nations.

The importance of rivers transcends national borders and local interests. Hence, for
its conservation and management, a balanced approach between developing and
developed countries is needed, in order to equitably divide the costs of their
conservation, thanks to the recognition of rivers as a global natural resource.

In the article of this section: Rivers and lakes of the world will find more interesting
data.
Articles about Air

10) ATMOSPHERE PRECIPITATIONS

One of the most notable atmospheric phenomena is precipitation, which may be
liquid water, solid water such as snow or hail, or a mixture of both: sleet. They are
associated with phenomena related to the circulation of air in the atmosphere, and
the intensity and physical state of them depends directly on the event in question.

The warm and cold air masses move, interacting with each other. The contact areas
are called fronts. A cold air mass can push another hot air, in which case the area
of interaction is called cold front. In the opposite case, when it is the hot air mass
that pushes the cold air mass, the contact zone is called the warm front.

In either of the two previous cases, the warm air is less dense than the cold, so
that when two of these mass come into contact, the warm air always rises above
the coldest. In the ascent, the water vapor condenses into small droplets, the
clouds appear. When the drops reach a size greater than 500 mm, the water
precipitates in the form of a drizzle. Normal raindrops have a size between 1 and 2
mm. diameter. Above 7 mm they become unstable and disintegrate into smaller
ones.

In most of the occasions, the water precipitates of liquid form, the rain, but it is not
the unique form of precipitation. If the cloud contains ice crystals, they can grow by
collision with other crystals or with drops of sub-cooled water and fall by gravity.
When the layer below the cloud is below 0 ° C, the ice clumps together in cottony
masses, turning into snow flakes and a snowfall occurs. In the opposite case, the
snow melts and falls in the form of rain. If the cloud drops drops of liquid water and
the temperature below the cloud is below 0 ° C, part of the water can solidify
resulting in sleet. The hail is a special type of precipitation associated with storms,
where the ice particles grow to reach sizes between 3 and 5 cm. in diameter, which
reach the ground.

When a mass of cold air comes in contact with another of warm air, the rain front
coincides with the cold front. In this case, the warm air is pushed by the cold and
rises rapidly. The clouds that form are cumuliform and, in particular,
cumulonimbus. Within these, the air rises until it reaches a

height between 6 and 12 kilometers, becoming ice. By gravity, it descends and

causes the appearance of larger ice or water nuclei. In addition, said descent can
cause the appearance of a downward air current at high speed, which on the
surface is transformed into winds that can exceed 60 km / hour. This type of
phenomena gives rise to intense rains, often torrential, which can sometimes be
accompanied by hail.

In the opposite case to the previous one, when it is the warm air mass that pushes
to a colder one, the ascension occurs more slowly, so the condensation takes place
more slowly. The clouds that appear are of the stratiform type, specifically
nimbostratus, and the associated rainfall gives rise to rainfall of moderate to low
intensity.

Another type of precipitation is associated with convection phenomena. The air is

heated on the surface and, reaching a certain temperature, rises in a bubble. As it
rises, the air cools and when it reaches the dew point, the water vapor condenses
and the cloud appears. These clouds are usually cumuliform, in particular cumulus
and are also called vertical development, which continue to grow until the entire
bubble of warm air to condensate. If they stop raising more air masses, the cloud
stops growing and, as it cools, it ends up disappearing. However, it can happen that
the ascent of air masses occurs continuously and very quickly. In this case, the
situation can become very unstable and large clouds of vertical development are
formed, cumulonimbus clouds, which give rise to isolated storms that can cause
very intense rainfall.

Orographic precipitation occurs when warm, humid winds from the sea penetrate
the land and encounter a mountainous barrier. The air is forced to rise and cool.
When the dew point is exceeded, the water vapor condenses into droplets that, if
the temperature of the cloud continues to fall, increase in size and fall on the
surface in the form of rain. When the mountainous barrier is overcome, the air is
colder and has lost much of its moisture, descending to lower levels. Once again in
contact with the surface, its temperature increases again. If it does not find a new
source of steam, its relative humidity drops, becoming a very dry air. This type of
air usually originates desert areas after the mountain ranges, being called
orographic deserts or deserts of rain shadow.