The Water Cycle

Water is the factor that dramatically differentiates the earth from the other planets, although the total water supply has remained constant for millions of years, it never remains stationary, it is the most active material on Earth and that is what we will see in this entry, the water cycle.

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The water is constantly moving, its movement is due to the forms that the surface of the earth has. In Iceland, fresh water flows through the stones crossing through the ground on a downward journey to the Atlantic Ocean. But fresh water is a small part of the total supply on the earth, most of the earth’s water more than 97% is in the oceans, in fact almost 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by salt water.

Fresh water is stored in glaciers near the north and south poles, in warm climates the ice melts and freshwater streams flow into the ocean. Fresh water is found in lakes, streams and on earth. The rest of the water supply is in the clouds, the amount of water in the atmosphere is small, when compared to the amount on the surface.

Clouds form from the evaporation of water and condenses when the air cools. Water returns to the earth in the form of precipitation, the most common form of precipitation is rain. This exchange of water between the earth sea and air is known as the water cycle but:

Where does the water come from? How does it get into the air? What makes the water return to the earth? What is the water cycle like?

The water evaporates from the ocean to the atmosphere, the wind carries the water vapor through the land where it condenses to form clouds. Precipitation occurs when the water falls on the earth, flows over and under the earth back to the ocean, this completes the water cycle.

The water evaporates in different ways, in the Yellowstone National Park the groundwater is heated to great depths and returns forming springs, when the water boils appear bubbles that rise and break on the surface. Bubbles are not air, but contain water vapor, an invisible gas. We cannot see the water vapor, but if the vaho, the vaho are hot water droplets before becoming steam, but not all boils to enter the atmosphere.

For example in Lake Grint Salt in Utah, the heat of the sun dries the saltwater ponds, the water becomes gas by the evaporation process, large amounts of water are returned to the atmosphere daily by the oceans the earth and vegetation, the water evaporates up and condenses to form clouds, these clouds are formed by millions of droplets of condensed water, the water vapor travels in the air currents until it cools and condenses, we can see moisture in the air, in these mountains the fog develops as the water vapor condenses, when the warm air passes over the cold mountain the particles of steam condenses into small particles and form drops of water.

The fog is a cloud that remains near the earth at less than 100 meters high, evidence of condensation can be seen on the coast early in the morning, small particles of dust and salt that are in the air collect the water vapor the water is condensed in droplets, this condensation is known as dew.

The condensation brings moisture to many forms of life, but it does not collect much water from the atmosphere, most of the water that is extracted from the air is in the form of precipitation, such as rain, hail and snow. Also, in certain regions, the winter temporarily stores the fresh water as ice, when the ice melts joins with other moving waters, when the soil under the snow freezes and the water melts, it runs. Instead, if the soil under the snow is not frozen, the melted water penetrates the earth and is part of the water supply of the earth.

The water accumulates under the surface of the earth in the pores of the soil and rocks, this forms groundwater with saturation zones, the upper limit of the saturation zone is called hydrostatic level.

On Mount Rainier, the large masses of ice and snow store huge quantities of fresh water, in the cold zones, only a small amount of snow falls, because the cold air has little water vapor, in this place glaciers have been formed due to the slow evaporation, there is so much water stored in glaciers that if everyone flees or melts, the surface of the oceans would rise 60 meters, although the melting is slow, the movement of the waters can be seen in the landscape.

In its passage through the earth the water collects small particles of land and rocks called sediments, the rivers also dissolve the materials of its banks, almost all the material of the earth can be dissolved in water. By gravity, some of these particles of rock and earth remain at the bottom, where they form deposits of sediments, but the water that runs joins with others in streams and rivers following a descending path becoming large bodies of water. Part of this water finally returns to the ocean, its place of origin, but, what happens with the water that does not return to the sea? A small part of groundwater can be seen in yellowstone, here the water under the boiling surface and is sent back to the surface, the evidence of groundwater is seen as the spring water is poured into the precipices during a period of drought without precipitation the groundwater can flow to the streams.

Scientists estimate that a molecule of water spends 98 years of every 100 in the ocean, for the rest of the time it is year and a half as ice, about a month in lakes and rivers and less than a week in the atmosphere. Water returns to the ocean thus completing its journey in the water cycle.

The function of the water cycle in any location depends on its proximity to oceans, mountains and latitude.

The Water Cycle

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