Tuesday 2 August 2011

            The Hydrosphere is the liquid water component of the Earth. Hydrosphere, in physical geography, describes the combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of the planet. Hydrosphere, also called as the water sphere, includes all the water that can be found in the oceans, streams, glaciers, groundwater, the soil, lakes, and also in the air. Hydrosphere also interacts and also influenced by other earth spheres like the lithosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. The hydrosphere covers 70 percent of the Earth and is the home of some animals.  Hydrosphere is all water at near the  earth’s surface that is not chemically bound in rocks. The total volume of water at the earth near the surface or in the water is approximately 1,500,000,000 kilometers or 350,000,000 cubic miles, of which almost 99 percent is contained by the oceanic water layer and the remaining 1 percent of the hydrosphere is in the glacial ice, fresh water in lakes and rivers, and atmospheric water vapor (in decreasing order of quantity).


            The hydrosphere provides an important place for the human beings and animals to live. There are also nutrients like the nitrate, nitrite, ammonium ions and other ions are dissolved in water. These substances is really needed for life to exist in water. The hydrosphere also helps the earth to regulate its temperature for the reason water takes a long time to heat up and a long time to cool down making the temperature of the earth stay within a range that is acceptable for life to exist. Humans and animals use water  in a number of ways. Humans and animals uses water for drinking, which is essential to maintain life, and water is used for other purposes like washing, cleaning, and generating electricity through hydropower. If the hydrosphere or the so called water sphere is depleted or will totally vanish, there will be no more supply of water that is essential to maintain life and there will be no more human beings or even animals that will live in the planet earth. If the hydrosphere will vanish, the interaction between the hydrosphere and othere spheres of the earth like the litosphere, atmosphere and biosphere will be out of balance and will create disturbance or malfunction of the litosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.