Preface

摘要

The hydrosphere is dynamic across the major compartments of the Earth system: the atmosphere, the oceans and seas, the surface waters over the emerged territories, and the groundwaters within diverse substrata below the two last compartments. The global geography of the hydrosphere essentially depends on thermodynamic and mechanical processes which develop within the latitudinal and geomorphological structure. Interfaces between these major compartments are very diverse across the world, essentially depending on the particular structural settings of latitude and geomorphology. Water-related processes at these interfaces are complex, depending both on the interface itself (geometry, permeability, (an-)isotropy, ...), and on the characteristics of the particular interfaced compartments (governing processes, characteristic scales, size, remote drivers in time and space, associated biogeochemical flows, ...).