Essay On Water And Water Cycle

7 What are the major components of water cycle and water balance?

The water cycle is the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth where water moves from one reservoir to another, such as from river to ocean, or from the ocean to the atmosphere, by the physical processes of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, surface runoff, and subsurface flow. In this process, the water goes through different phases: liquid, solid and vapour.

Water cycle involves exchange of energy, which leads to the change in the temperature. For instance, when water evaporates, it takes up energy from its surroundings and cools the environment. When it condenses, it releases energy and warms the environment. These heat

Subsurface water may return to the surface (e.g. as a spring or by being pumped) or eventually seep into the oceans. Water returns to the land surface at lower elevation than where it infiltrated, under the force of gravity or gravity induced pressures. Groundwater tends to move slowly, and is replenished slowly, so it can remain in aquifers for thousands of

The source of energy for evaporation is primarily solar radiation. Evaporation often implicitly includes transpiration from plants, though together they are specifically referred to as evapotranspiration.

Sublimation

Sublimation is the transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas phase without passing through the intermediate liquid phase. Sublimation is an endothermic phase transition that occurs at temperatures and pressures below a substance 's triple point in its phase diagram. The reverse process of sublimation is deposition, in which a substance passes directly from a gas to a solid phase. Sublimation has also been used as a generic term to describe phase changes between solid and gas that avoid the liquid state without specifying the direction of the transition.

Deposition

Water vapour from humid winter-air deposits directly into a solid, crystalline frost pattern on a window, without ever being liquid is called deposition. This refers to changing of water vapour directly to