The Water Cycle
By: Caycie Herring P.8
Science
The water cycle is the
continuous movement of water on,
above, and below the surface of
earth. Because the water cycle
is a cycle, there is no
beginning or end; it keeps on
going. Water can change stages
among liquid, vapor and ice.
The sun heats up the
water
in the oceans and the water
evaporates as vapor into the
air.
Ice and snow can sublimate into
water vapor.
Evapotranspiration is water
transpired from plants and
evaporated from the soil.
Rising air currents take the
vapor up into the atmosphere
where cooler air temperatures
cause the vapor to condense into
a cloud. Air currents move the
clouds around the sky and they
group with other clouds then
fall to the ground as
precipitation (rain).
Some precipitation falls as snow
which could turn into ice caps
or glaciers. Ice caps and
glaciers can hold frozen water
(ice) for thousands of years.
Snowpacks thaw and melt, and the
water flows over land as
snowmelt.
Most waterfalls flow back into
an ocean or onto land as rain,
where the water flows over the
ground as surface runoff.
A portion of runoff goes through
rivers, vallies and the
landscape, with stream flow
moving water towards the oceans.
Runoff and groundwater usually
stored as fresh water in lakes.
Not all runoffs flow into rivers
and lakes, most of it soaks into
the ground as infiltration.
some water infiltrates deep into
the ground and replenishes
aquifers, which store fresh
water for a long time.
Some infiltration stays close to
the land surface and can seep
back into surface – water bodies
(and the ocean) as groundwater
discharge. Some groundwater
finds openings in the surface
and comes out as freshwater
springs.
Over time, the water returns to
the ocean where the cycle
started.
Ocean is the main water source
Water is evaporataed into the
air as water vaper.
the water is condensed into a
cloud.
Rain falls down from
the clouds.
some of the rain flows down in
rivers and some seaps into the
ground.
the wataer is evaporated back
into the air as a cloud, rains
again and will soon end up back
into the ocean where it begun.
Vocabulary
Precipitation:
Rain, snow, hail, fog drip,
graupel and sleet.
Canopy Interception:
The precipitation that is
intercepted by plants and is
evaporated back into the
atmosphere instead of falling to
the ground.
Snowmelt:
The runoff produced by melting
snow.
Runoff:
The varieties of ways the water
flows across the land. This
includes both surface runoff and
channel runoff.
Infiltration:
The flow of water from the
ground surface into the ground.
Surface flow:
The flow of water underground in
the vadose zone and aquifers.
Sublimation:
The change from solid to liquid
Advection:the movement of water
in solid, liquid, or vapor
states through the atmosphere.
Condensation:
The transformation of water
vapor to liquid water droplets
in the air, producing clouds and
fog.
Transpiration:
The release of water vapor from
plants into the air.