Preview

the water cycle

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1952 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
the water cycle
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Water cycle

The Earth 's water is always in movement, and the water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth. Since the water cycle is truly a "cycle," there is no beginning or end. Water can change states among liquid, vapor, and ice at various places in the water cycle, with these processes happening in the blink of an eye and over millions of years. Although the balance of water on Earth remains fairly constant over time, individual water molecules can come and go in a hurry, but there is always the same amount of water on the surface of the earth

Description

The water cycle has no starting or ending point. The sun, which drives the water cycle, heats water in the oceans. Some of it evaporates as vapor into the air. Ice and snow can sublimate directly into water vapor. Rising air currents take the vapor up into the atmosphere, along with water from evapotranspiration, which is water transpired from plants and evaporated from the soil. The vapor rises into the air where cooler temperatures cause it to condense into clouds. Air currents move clouds around the globe, cloud particles collide, grow, and fall out of the sky as precipitation. Some precipitation falls as snow and can accumulate as ice caps and glaciers, which can store frozen water for thousands of years. Snowpacks in warmer climates often thaw and melt when spring arrives, and the melted water flows overland as snowmelt. Most precipitation falls back into the oceans or onto land, where, due to gravity, the precipitation flows over the ground as surface runoff. A portion of runoff enters rivers in valleys in the landscape, with streamflow moving water towards the oceans. Runoff, and ground-water seepage, accumulate and are stored as freshwater in lakes. Not all runoff flows into rivers. Much of it soaks into the ground as

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    ATMO 336 Exam 2 Study Guide

    • 5144 Words
    • 15 Pages

    In this document, I jotted down some notes while putting together the reading material. These notes point out some of the reading content to pay particular attention to. The notes are divided into section headings based on the reading material. This is not meant to be a complete list of everything that you need to know from the reading Water in Atmosphere You should know what is meant by phases of water and phase changes of water. Water vapor is extremely important in the atmosphere for many reasons. A few of those reasons include Water vapor transforms into both liquid and solid cloud particles that grow and fall to Earth as precipitation. When water vapor condenses in the formation of clouds, large amounts of heat - calledlatent heatis released into the atmosphere. Latent heat is an important source of energy in the development of thunderstorms and hurricanes. Water vapor strongly absorbs HYPERLINK http//www.atmo.arizona.edu/courses/fall14/atmo336s2/lectures/glossary.html l infrared infrared radiation, making it an important gas in the Earths heat-energy balance. In fact water vapor is the largest contributor to the greenhouse effect on Earth. You should know what latent energy is. You should know the energy exchange between water and the surrounding environment as water changes phase, especially evaporation and condensation. Latent Heat Heat energy is stored in one of three states- ice, water, or water vapor. The energy is absorbed or released in each phase change from one state to another. Heat energy is absorbed as the latent heat of melting, vaporization, or evaporation. Heat energy is released as the latent heat of condensation and freezing. During the processes of melting, evaporation, and sublimation, water absorbs energy. The energy absorbed causes the water molecules to change their bonding pattern and transform to a higher energy state. In the Earth system, this energy must be supplied by the surrounding environment. Thus, these phase changes result in…

    • 5144 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The water evaporates from all over the world but let’s say it is evaporates from the oceans to form clouds that are moved over land by many of winds. The rainfall then brings it to earth where it will return to oceans by creeks to river, and some lakes then back to the ocean.…

    • 1219 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Evaporation is an essential part of the water cycle. The sun (solar energy) drives evaporation of…

    • 2074 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1.06 Origins of the Ocean

    • 1081 Words
    • 4 Pages

    As a particle going through the hydrolic cycle, first I am evaporated from a body of water. Then I mix into the atmosphere. When the air cools down, I and other water droplets conform a cloud. Then I am take off from the cloud and fall back into the atmosphere. I later fall on land, or another body of water and the cycle begins again.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When water goes from the bodies of water on the Earth back into the atmosphere, evaporation has occurred. This cycle is driven by the energy from the sun. When water vapor cools as it undergoes the process of condensation. Condensation is the process of water going from the gas phase into the liquid phase. In order for water to condensate, the moisture must have some form of particulate to attach to. This particulate can be in the form of dust, smoke, or other forms of pollution as well as solid surfaces. When condensation occurs in the atmosphere and falls back to Earth we again have precipitation. This is why it is called the water cycle.…

    • 2049 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Geography rivier

    • 2098 Words
    • 9 Pages

    A river is the natural course of the water, which goes from a higher point, to the lowest point, usually the sea, ocean, lake or another river. There are few cases where the river simply flows under the ground surface or dries completely before reaching a bigger body of water. The river is also freshwater; there are no rivers with sea water (salty water). Rivers are not always called rivers. Smaller rivers can also be called streams, rills, rivulets and tributaries. Rivers are part of the hydrological cycle. The water inside a river is mainly collected from precipitation (rain) from the drainage basin. The water is also collected from surface runoff, which is caused, by precipitation, groundwater, springs and the melting of natural land (glaciers) and snow. The water in a river is usually confined into a channel and there is usually only one single stream of water within the channel.…

    • 2098 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Water cycle, also known as the Hydrologic cycle or the H2O cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to national geographic, water accounts for eighty percent of the natural greenhouse warming and the other twenty percent is due to gases present in small amount such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide. Carbon dioxide is the big absorber of sun rays, it is released through burning of fossil fuels and emissions from cars which increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leading to increase in temperatures. An environmental effect of global warming is high temperatures that lead to changes in water cycle. This explains the fact mentioned by Mc Kibben in his article, ‘the Arctic has melted with stunning speed the last two summers and the pH of the oceans has shifted dramatically just in the last decade’. Increase in temperatures due to rising carbon dioxide levels will cause the ice in Polar Regions to melt off quickly and upset our water cycles, leading to ocean level rising and increase in the level of diseases. In order to stop global warming much has to be…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    water cycle

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages

    2. Write two short paragraphs, one discussing how Tang and Song emperors strengthened Chinas empire and the other discussing how they weakened it…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The water cycle is nature’s way of showing how water moves around. The water cycle is a continuous cycle where water evaporates, travels into the air and becomes part of a cloud, falls down to earth as precipitation, and then evaporates again. This never ending cycle is everywhere. One of the places that it occurs in is the Amazon Rainforest. The Amazon Rainforest is a unique habitat filled with wildlife. With its tropical weather, the Amazon has an abundance amount of rain per year. In addition to that, this forest has a vast variety of animals and plants. All of these add to the water vapor going into the air. WIth all these vast variety of animals and plants, there is probably a lot of evaporation going on.…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Glaciers

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages

    One of the largest reservoirs of fresh water on earth is Glacier Ice, and is the second only to oceans as the largest reservoir of total water. (Glacier) Glaciers can be found in the Polar Regions covering a vast area but are restricted to the highest mountains in the tropics.…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Carbon Cycle

    • 3147 Words
    • 13 Pages

    According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), the increase in anthropogenic CO2 emissions has led to the increase in global temperatures in the past century . Because of the preponderance of evidence linking greenhouse gases and climate change, governments worldwide are developing policy to reduce CO2 emissions.…

    • 3147 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Antarctica Research Paper

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The water cycle is a repetitive cycle and doesn’t stop. The water cycle controls how water…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Written assignment Unit 4 Introduction Every human in the world has a significant impact on the water cycle, as well me. Every day I use resources and have a major impact in into this cycle. We often use resources without thinking much about it. It is simply normal to us, that’s enough of these resources are available for the people.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hydrological Cycle

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hydrological cycle is the process that involves the continuous circulation of water in the Earth-atmosphere system. The hydrologic cycle is a conceptual model that describes the storage and movement of water between the biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and the hydrosphere. Water on our planet can be stored in any one of the following major reservoirs: atmosphere, oceans, lakes, rivers, soils, glaciers, snowfields, and groundwater. Water moves from one reservoir to another by way of processes like evaporation, condensation, precipitation, deposition, runoff, infiltration, sublimation, transpiration, melting, and groundwater flow. The oceans supply most of the evaporated water found in the atmosphere (“The Water Cycle.”). Of this evaporated water, only 91% of it is returned to the ocean basins by way of precipitation. The remaining 9% is transported to areas over landmasses where climatological factors induce the formation of precipitation (Hubbart). The resulting imbalance between rates of evaporation and precipitation over land and ocean is corrected by runoff and groundwater flow to the oceans. Water is more or less constantly moving and changing from one state to another (solid, liquid, or vapor/gas) while interacting with the physical processes present in the atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. These changes and movements of water are linked together in the hydrologic cycle. Components of the hydrologic cycle include water vapor and clouds in the atmosphere, but also include liquid surface waters (oceans, lakes and streams) on continents as well as groundwater. Other important components of the hydrologic cycle include glacial ice held on continents, and water contained in biomass. Plants and animals are about 70% water, by volume (“Hydrologic Cycle”). Water evaporates in enormous quantities from the oceans and then falls as precipitation either on land or ocean. That portion which falls on land evaporates, is transpired by plants,…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays