Reservoirs of Available Water (liquid equivalent) on the Earth

ReservoirVolume
(106 km3		Percent
of total		Residence Time
Oceans
1350
97.3
103-104 yr
Glaciers
29
2.1
101-103 yr
Aquifers
8
0.6
2 wks-104 yr
Lakes
0.1
0.01
10 yr
Soil Moisture
0.1
0.01
52 days
Atmosphere
0.013
0.001
10 days
Rivers
0.002
0.0002
2 weeks
Biosphere
0.001
0.0001
6 days

After Graedel, T. E. and P. J. Cruzen, Atmospheric Change. An Earth System Perspective, W. H. Freeman and Company, 1993.

Water

According to Ward and Brownlee, the abundance of water is about a half of one percent by weight of the Earth. Though a small percentage, this is a very high percentage of water compared to other rocky planets.

A slightly different perspective is given by Debenedetti and Stanley, tabulated below.

Volume of water (km3)Resident in:
1.3 x 109
Oceans
3.3 x 107
Polar ice caps
2 x 105
Glaciers
1 x 105
Lakes
1.2 x 103
Rivers
2.2 x 105
Annual rainfall
Index

Tables

Data Reference
Lutgens & Tarbuck
Ch 2

Data Reference
Ward and Brownlee
Ch 9
 
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