The Hydrologic Cycle: The Water Cycle

Water cycle

The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle, is the process by which water moves from place to place above, on, and below the Earth 's surface. This is the process by which water moves around the Earth to different places. The total amount of water on the Earth is relatively unchanging, and it has remained about the same since our planet 's formation. As the planet cooled, water vapor present at its formation condensed to fill the oceans and other places, like inland lakes and rivers. The distribution of water on Earth

The Earth 's surface is 75% water and 25% land. Of the water, 97% is salt water, a surprisingly high percentage, leaving only 3% as fresh water. Most of that - two-thirds of the fresh water on Earth - is

Evaporation

Let 's begin the water cycle journey with water on the surface of the Earth. That 's where most of the liquid water on the surface is, right? Evaporation is the process by which water is converted from its liquid state to the gaseous state, also known as water vapor. In other words, water leaves the Earth 's surface and enters the atmosphere

Evaporation is a purifying process. One of the ways you can purify sea water is to heat it so it evaporates and then collect the steam. The steam is pure water, and getting it back to a liquid requires our next phase of the water cycle.

Condensation

Condensation is the process by which water vapor is changed back into liquid water. Condensation is very important to our weather and climate because it is what is responsible for cloud formation.

Without clouds, we would not get to the third phase, called precipitation, which we will talk about in a minute. Clouds form when water vapor condenses around small particles, like bits of dust or smoke in the air. Depending on the size of the drops, these particles may or may not be visible. Even on a clear, cloudless day, water vapor is always present in the atmosphere, but it does vary in amounts. We know it is present on a very humid day; it often feels like we need to swim through the air! Fog is condensation near the ground. Fog is condensation occurring near the ground.

Fog forms when moist warmer air comes in contact with cooler air near the surface. Just like when the bathroom mirror gets all foggy during a shower because of condensation, fog also forms because of this warm air contacting a cooler air mass. The fog forms drops in the air rather than on the surface of