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Each of you has a diagram of the water cycle.
Write the correct name for the part of the water
cycle within your diagram.
Fill in the definitions on your Guided Notes Set
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The sun’s energy moves water through the
water cycle.
Think of the sun as the engine which drives
this cycle.
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Condensation is the process by which water
vapor in the air is changed into liquid water.
Condensation is crucial to the water cycle
because it is responsible for the formation of
clouds.
Clouds will eventually cause precipitation,
which is the way that water returns back to
the surface.
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Evapotranspiration represents the water that
moves into the atmosphere from three places
From the ground surface
Evaporation from the edge of the
groundwater table.
From the transpiration of plants whose roots
take water from the groundwater.
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Some precipitation seeps into the ground and
becomes ground water.
It begins to travel underground, it can meet
up with a stream or exit the ground in some
other way
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Water that falls as rain and snow will sink into
or “infiltrate” the soil and rock below the
surface of the ground.
Think of this as the water which “soaks in”
after a storm
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In the colder parts of the world, much of
the movement of water in the springtime
is due to melting snow and ice.
This snow will sit until spring time, when
it melts and releases water into rivers.
As much as 75 percent of water supplies
in the western states are derived from
snowmelt.
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Precipitation either enters the ground or runs
downhill.
Most runoff ends up in creeks, streams, and
rivers, flowing downhill towards the oceans.
These usually will deposit this water into the
oceans.
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Most water in rivers comes directly from
runoff from the land surface, which is defined
as surface runoff.
Precipitation that falls on the land, flows
overland as runoff, and then runs into rivers,
which then empty into the oceans.
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What is water storage?
◦ This is water that is locked up in its
present state for a relatively long period of
time.
The amount of water being stored as
snow and ice accounts for a large
amount of all water at any given time.
 This water can be stored for
thousands of years, such as the water
at the bottom of a glacier
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As you know, evaporation is the process by
which water changes from liquid phase to gas
phase.
Evaporation is the main way that water moves
between liquid phase back to atmospheric
water vapor.
This is powered by the sun.
According to research, the oceans, seas,
lakes, and rivers provide nearly 90 percent of
the moisture in the atmosphere via
evaporation.
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For us, the most important part of the water
cycle is the freshwater existing on the land
surface.
Surface water includes the streams, ponds,
lakes, reservoirs, and freshwater wetlands.
Water enters freshwater storage from
precipitation, surface runoff, and
groundwater seepage.
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Large amounts of water are stored in the
ground.
This water enters groundwater by infiltration.
Below the top area of soil a saturated zone,
where all of the pores, cracks, and spaces
between rock particles are saturated with
water. The term ground water is used to
describe this area.
The top of this zone is called the “water
table.”
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The drops which form clouds are far too
small to fall as precipitation, but they are
large enough to form visible clouds.
For precipitation to happen, tiny droplets
clump into larger drop which fall out of the
cloud as precipitation.
Depending on the conditions, ice crystals
may fall as snow, or water may fall as rain
www.wsaz.com
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A spring is formed when groundwater is
exposed to the surface, and emerges from
the ground.
They range in size from intermittent seeps,
which flow only after much rain, to huge
pools flowing hundreds of millions of gallons
daily.
The Comal Springs are the largest in Texas. There are
seven large springs within Landa Park.
http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/comal.html
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Sublimation is how solid water goes directly
into the gas phase, without changing to a
liquid first.
Within the water cycle, this is where snow and
ice change into water vapor in the air without
first melting into water.
This can be seen as fog forming over ice and
snow.
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The atmosphere is the main way that water
moves around the globe.
Clouds are moved by winds throughout the
world.
90% of water in the atmosphere is produced
by evaporation from water bodies
10% comes from transpiration from plants.
Clouds are the easiest way to see the water in
the atmosphere, but all air contains water.
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The largest storage of water on Earth is in the
oceans.
At any given time, about 96.5% of the water
on Earth is stored in the oceans. Also, about
90% of evaporation occurs from the surface
of the ocean.
The water in the oceans is saltwater , which
means that it contains dissolved salts.
U.S. Geological Survey. “The Water Cycle." (2011)
Retrieved from http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html