Water world: the water cycle
Water moves between air, land and oceans, with no single starting point. Below are twelve parts of that cycle, each with two short facts and the USGS source.
The card game to explore these worlds is coming online soon. Until then, you can read every card here with its source.
Evaporation
Liquid water can become invisible water vapour.
Evaporation removes heat and can cool a surface.
Condensation
Water vapour can turn back into liquid droplets.
Droplets on a cold glass can come from the surrounding air.
Precipitation
Rain, snow and hail are forms of precipitation.
Water falls from clouds when droplets or crystals grow enough.
Infiltration
Some water at the surface seeps into the ground.
Soil and ground conditions affect how quickly water enters.
Groundwater
Groundwater occupies spaces within rock and sediment.
An aquifer stores and transmits groundwater.
Transpiration
Plants release water vapour through their leaves.
Roots take up water that can later return to the air.
Sublimation
Ice can become vapour without first becoming liquid.
Snow can slowly disappear even while temperatures stay below freezing.
Runoff
Water can travel downhill over the land surface.
Paved surfaces can reduce infiltration and increase runoff.
Springs
A spring is a place where groundwater reaches the surface.
Springs connect underground water with surface streams.
Glaciers
Glaciers store water as ice.
Melting returns some of that stored water to flowing water.
Oceans
The oceans hold most of Earth’s water.
Ocean evaporation supplies water to the atmosphere.
Rivers
Streams carry water through a drainage basin.
A stream can receive both runoff and groundwater.