The Hydrologic Cycle

THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

by Anton Antonio

March 26, 2015

Have you ever wondered why it becomes very humid after a sudden rain in a long dry spell?  Humidity, in this case, is the result of processes such as evaporation, transpiration, condensation and precipitation.  These processes are part of the hydrologic cycle or what is also commonly called “the water cycle”.

Let us define these terms (plus some other hydrologic terms) in an effort to better understand the hydrologic or water cycle:

1. The Hydrologic Cycle or Water Cycle – the sequence of conditions through which water passes from vapour in the atmosphere through precipitation upon land or water surfaces and ultimately back into the atmosphere as a result of evaporation and transpiration.  It is also the cycle of processes by which water circulates between the earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and land, involving precipitation as rain and snow, drainage in streams and rivers, and return to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration.
2. Evaporation – the changing of a liquid into a gas, often under the influence of heat.  A process driven by radiant energy that brings water from the ocean and other water bodies to the atmosphere.
3. Transpiration – the act or process or an instance of transpiring; especially the passage of watery vapour from a living body (plants) through a membrane or pores.  Approximately 90% of the water that reaches the atmosphere come from plants.
4. Condensation – the process that converts water vapour into droplets on a cold surface when humid air is contact with it.  Water molecules aggregate from vapour to liquid or solid when saturation concentration is exceeded.
5. Precipitation – is the end process and product of the water cycle wherein rain, snow, sleet, or hail or any kind of weather condition, to include chemical reaction, return back to earth’s surface from the atmosphere.

Terms Nos. 2 to 4 are the processes involved in the water or the hydrologic cycle.

Just my little thoughts…

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