Water Cycle

I

Introduction

Water Cycle or Hydrologic Cycle, series of movements of water above, on, and below the surface of the earth. The water cycle consists of four distinct stages: storage, evaporation, precipitation, and runoff. Water may be stored temporarily in the ground; in oceans, lakes, and rivers; and in ice caps and glaciers. It evaporates from the earth’s surface, condenses in clouds, falls back to the earth as precipitation (rain or snow), and eventually either runs into the seas or reevaporates into the atmosphere. Almost all the water on the earth has passed through the water cycle countless times. Very little water has been created or lost over the past billion years.

II

Storage

Enormous volumes of water are involved in the water cycle. There are about 1.4 billion cu km (about 340 million cu mi) of water on the earth, enough to cover the United States with water 147 km (92 mi) deep. Slightly more than 97 percent of this amount is ocean water and is therefore salty. However, because the water that evaporates from the ocean is almost free of salt, the rain and snow that fall on the earth are relatively fresh. Fresh water is stored in glaciers, lakes, and rivers. It is also stored as groundwater in the soil and rocks. There are about 36 million cu km (about 8.6 million cu mi) of fresh water on the earth.

The atmosphere holds about 12,000 cu km (about 2,900 cu mi) of water at any time, while all the world’s rivers and freshwater lakes hold about 120,000 cu km (about 29,000 cu mi). The world’s two main reservoirs of fresh water are the great polar ice caps, which contain about 28 million cu km (about 6.7 million cu mi), and the ground, which contains about 8 million cu km (about 2 million cu mi).

Almost all of the world’s fresh ice is found in the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland. These ice caps cover more than 17 million sq km (more than 6.6 million sq mi) of land to an average depth of more than 1.5 km (more than 0.93 mi). Most other glaciers, formed in mountain valleys at high latitudes, are tiny compared to the ice caps. If all of the ice in the ice caps and other glaciers melted, it would raise the sea level by about 80 m (about 260 ft).

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The amount of water stored as ice on the land varies with climate. At the peak of the last ice age, about 22,000 years ago, an additional 20 million sq km (8 million sq mi) of land—including almost all of Canada, the northern fringe of the United States, northern Europe, and large tracts in Siberia—were covered with ice about 1.5 km (about 0.93 mi) thick. Because this water came from the oceans, sea level was about 120 m (about 390 ft) lower than it is today. Most water in the ice caps remains frozen for centuries and is not readily accessible.

Most groundwater is more accessible and supplies much of people’s water needs in many regions of the earth. Permafrost, ground that is always frozen, forms an impermeable barrier to the flow of groundwater. Permafrost occurs in places such as northern Canada and Siberia where the annual average temperature is below 0° C (below 32° F).

Almost all groundwater fills the tiny pores and cracks in the soil and rocks. Very little is stored in subterranean caverns. Near the earth’s surface, most soils and sedimentary rocks are so porous that water can occupy from 20 to 40 percent of their volume. As depth increases, the pores and open spaces in the rocks are squeezed shut. As a result, almost all groundwater is found in the top 8 to 16 km (5 to 10 mi) of the earth. Water below this depth is chemically bound in the rocks and minerals and is not readily available, but it can be released as a result of geologic processes such as volcanic eruptions (see volcano).

III

Evaporation

Evaporation is the process by which liquid water changes to water vapor and enters the atmosphere as a gas. Evaporation of ice is called sublimation. Evaporation from the leaf pores, or stomata, of plants is called transpiration. Every day about 1,200 cu km (about 290 cu mi) of water evaporates from the ocean, land, plants, and ice caps, while an equal amount of precipitation falls back on the earth. If evaporation did not replenish the water lost by precipitation, the atmosphere would dry out in ten days.

The evaporation rate increases with temperature, sunlight intensity, wind speed, plant cover, and ground moisture, and it decreases as the humidity of the air increases. The evaporation rate on the earth varies from almost zero on the polar ice caps to as much as 4 m (as much as 13 ft) per year over the Gulf Stream. The average is about 1 m (about 3.3 ft) per year. At this rate, evaporation would lower sea level about 1 m per year if the water were not replenished by precipitation and runoff.

IV

Precipitation

Precipitation occurs when water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into clouds and falls to the earth. Precipitation can take a variety of forms, including rain, snow, ice pellets, and hail. About 300 cu km (about 70 cu mi) of precipitation falls on the land each day. Almost two-thirds of this precipitation reevaporates into the atmosphere, while the rest flows down rivers to the oceans. Individual storms can produce enormous amounts of precipitation. For example, an average winter low-pressure system drops about 100 cu km (about 24 cu mi) of water on the earth during its lifetime of several days, and a severe thunderstorm can drop 0.1 cu km (0.02 cu mi) of water in a few hours over a small area.

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