how has the water cycle helped determine population patterns in north america?
437332
in general you need water to grow things and you need to grow things to live.  In America, technology is such that irrigation can move water over long distances, and people can live in bone dry places but food can be transported in - so while most cities in America are fairly close to places where enough water falls to support agriculture, technology has made it possible for Americans to live just about anywhere they take a fancy to
314786
k, the carrying capacity, is measured by population surveys if you assume the population is already at k.  If it's not at k, then you'd have to do some work such as protecting an area against harvest and determining the population of that area every year then determine k for the whole bay based on that.  Actually it's pretty hard to know k in real life, it's more of an abstract guess by ecologists.
471029
They know where air masses originate & how cold those air masses are when they start at their source region.\n\nAs the air mass moves across the continent, it changes in temp to that closer in temp to the air mass already in place.\n\nFor instance, if an air mass orginates over nothern Canada, it will be dry & cold. As it moves south, it will start taking on characteristics of the areas that it moves over. It will get warmer. By the time it reaches say, Mexico, it will have warmed up tremendously.\n\nThey can predict how much kinetic energy will be gained or lost by that.\n\nI don't think there is an exact formula for this kind of science. Most of predicting the weather is actually "predicting"!\n\n;)
1127130
I would say "C" is the closest answer to the question. I believe that people adapt their way of living to the topography, climate, tradition, social pressures and any number of other factors. Do a little research on the Anasazi of the southwestern U.S. and see what factors may have lead to their demise.
615890
Prior to the invention of the steam engine, industry tended to center where there was rapidly flowing water. New England was ideally suited to this for several reasons.\n\nThey had a relatively cold climate and so got a good deal of snow in the winter (when industries were typically slower, for they had not yet gone on the modern work schedule allowed by artifical lighting and accurate timekeeping.)\n\nThat snow resulted in a good 'head' of water power in the spring melt. \n\nIn addition to the spring melt, the mountainous regions of New England were close enough to the coast that the water did not lose too significant a portion of its velocity. The rivers were realtively narrow and fast.\n\nIn the south were wider, gentler rivers, further away from the coastal regions where people first settled in large groups. Because they had wider regions of flatter ground, the South tended to concentrate on agriculture.\n\nThere were three primary mill (waterwheel-driven) industries in the late 1700's. There were sawmills, for cutting timbers into lumber, without which the other industries could not have arisen. There were grist mills for grinding grain into flour, and making relatively chear cereal foods available, without which the worker base could not have subsisted. \n\nFinally there were the textile mills, where fibers were spun and woven into fabrics. These were probably the latest and most mechanically complicated of the three main varieties. (Recall, that the Jacquard loom of a later generation, was the first of a long line of machines which were operated by means of punched cards or tapes, prior to the invention of electric controls and the computer, or even pneumatic controls.)\n\nThe availability of shipping in New England was another reason that this area became a leader in these industries. The lumber, flour and fabric were sold all over the place. \n\nLinen and woolen fabrics were the most important at first, until Eli Whitney (of Massachusetts) invented the cotton gin and cotton became much more important in the agricultural and economic life of the South. It is highly ironic that, after having invented one machine which contributed heavily, though indirectly, tothe American Civil War, Eli Whitney also developed the mass production method of manufacturing arms which were then used by Union forces to win the war.
977492
In the US this responsibility falls to the USGS ... the following is an excerpt:\n\nThe USGS maintains a network of wells to monitor the effects of droughts and other climate variability on ground-water levels. The network consists of a national network of about 140 wells monitored as part of the Ground-Water Resources Program, supplemented by wells in some States monitored as part of the Cooperative Water Program.\n\nHope this helps, MAC
663521
In order of common frequency:\n\n1 ) Streams & other flowing water sources\nWhile by far the easiest access to water, many such tributaries are seasonal and not reliable (particularly during summer months when water is much more critical).\n\n2 ) Lakes & Ponds\nGenerally more stable year-round, they also have a tendency to harbor bacteria and other waterborne diseases.  This problem was usually addressed by either boiling the water or by digging a small hole a ways back from the waters' edge and allowing it to fill with water from the lake (using the earth as a filter).\n\n3 ) Shallow Wells & Hand Pumps\nPioneers learned early on to read the lay of the land in finding sources of water.  This was usually the first step in establishing a settlement or homestead, since their location was primarily dependent upon their source of water.\n\n4 ) Deep Wells & Windmills\nThese normally only came about after a sttlement was established due to the difficulties involved, though occassionally a last resort in deperate situations.
922047
The United States is definitely one.\n\nFor example, Alaska and Minnesota have tons of lakes.
47171
http://eo.ucar.edu/basics/images/usgs_water_cycle.jpg
683814
the great lakes mostly and the watersheds that supply them
724447
THe best way would probably be with multiple graphs, one for each continent.\n\nA bar graph would be a good style. A vertical axis in percentage of population living in cities, and a horizontal axis representing time. This would give you a distinct picture of the trends in urban residence for each continent.
20345
Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasons\n\nThe ultimate cause of the seasons is the fact that the Earth's axis is not perpendicular to its orbital plane; it deviates by an angle of approximately 23.5 degrees of arc. Thus, at any given time during the summer or winter, one part of the planet is more directly exposed to the rays of the Sun. This exposure alternates as the Earth revolves in its orbit. At any given time, regardless of season, the northern and southern hemispheres experience opposite seasons.\n\nSeasonal weather fluctuations also depend on factors such as proximity to oceans or other large bodies of water, currents in those oceans, El Niño/ENSO and other oceanic cycles, and prevailing winds.\n\nIn the temperate and polar regions, seasons are marked by changes in the amount of sunlight, which in turn often cause cycles of dormancy in plants and hibernation in animals. These effects vary with latitude, and with proximity to bodies of water. For example, the South Pole is in the middle of the continent of Antarctica, and therefore a considerable distance from the moderating influence of the southern oceans. The North Pole is in the Arctic Ocean, and thus its temperature extremes are buffered by the presence of all that water. The result is that the South Pole is consistently colder during the southern winter than the North Pole during the northern winter.\n\nThe cycle of seasons in the polar and temperate zones of one hemisphere is opposite to that in the other. When it is summer in the Northern hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern hemisphere, and vice versa, and when it is spring in the Northern hemisphere it is autumn in the Southern hemisphere, and vice versa.\n\nIn the tropics, there is no noticeable change in the amount of sunlight. However, many regions (famously the northern Indian Ocean) are subject to monsoon rain and wind cycles. Curiously, a study of temperature records over the past 300 years (David Thompson, Science, April 1995) shows that the climatic seasons, and thus the seasonal year, are governed by the anomalistic year rather than the tropical year.
834678
The water cycle is usually broken into 4 basic steps:\n1) evaporation / transpiration / sublimation\n2) atmospheric storage\n3) condensation / precipitation\n4) runoff/infiltration / surface storage\n\nThere is as much water on the planet today as there was when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. There will always be plenty of water.\n\nNow, if we are talking about useful water, we need to reexamine this. You may first want to look at NASA's global water map:\nhttp://www-surf.larc.nasa.gov/surf/pages/water.html\n\nNASA also has a page for global water distribution:\nhttp://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Water/\nThis page illustrates the tiny portion of useful water on our planet.\n\nThere are two larger issues that NASA does not discuss in their global water distribution. 1) Keeping in mind that the US has just about the same amount of water available as it did 200 years ago, there are now 250 million to share with instead of the 4 million of 200 years ago. 2) Of the roughly 3/4% of fresh water in groundwater and lakes and streams around the world, much of that is too polluted to drink.\n\nWith regard to the coming urgency for "Thinking Globally - Acting Locally", check out Jonathan Harris' "infographics" poster:\nhttp://www.princeton.edu/~ina/infographics/water.html When our neighboring countries run out, they will be forced to do what you do when you run out of sugar in the middle of a recipe - run over to the neighbor's for some.\n\nWhen we waste water, we are not only using our drinkable water but we are also moving water to the undrinkable part of the water distribution. True, we aren't losing any water on this planet, but we are losing useful water and won't be getting any more new water, either.\n\nIf we do, it will be in the form of a large icy comet and we probably won't need water at all after that.
1157540
water beacuse of the long dry season
840814
the water cycle is what it says it is,the cycle water goes through.there has always been the same amount of water in the earth at all times.basically it is recycled.water from bodies of water is evaporated and rises into the atmosphere.it isnt all H2O.it contains all of the impurities and other elements also.the partcles form clouds and when they get heavy enuogh it rains.but it isnt just rain from the beginning.as it falls ,it starts out as frozen water(snow)and as it falls toward the earth,it melts into raindrops.i hope this helps.
218625
Hydrosphere (Greek hydro- means "water") in physical geography, describes the collective mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet. On Earth, the water cycle describes the methods of transport for water in the hydrosphere. This cycle includes water beneath the Earth's surface and in rocks (lithosphere), the water in plants and animals (biosphere), the water covering the surface of the planet in liquid and solid forms, and the water in the atmosphere in the form of water vapor, clouds, and precipitation..
40672
HISTORICALLY, THE Native Americans who lived in the area that is now the northern and eastern United States kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to the recurring full Moons. Each full Moon name was applied to the entire month in which it occurred. These names, and some variations, were used by the Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior. \n\nhttp://www.almanac.com/astronomy/moonnames.php