The continuous movement of water between the ocean, atmosphere and land, driven by solar heating: water evaporates from ocean and land surfaces, is transpired by plants into the atmosphere, condenses into clouds, falls as precipitation, and returns to the ocean through rivers and groundwater flow to begin again. Forested biomes participate in this cycle directly rather than merely receiving its output; the Amazon rainforest's trees transpire enough water vapor to generate a substantial share of the region's own rainfall, a self-reinforcing local loop researchers call flying rivers, and large-scale deforestation measurably reduces downwind precipitation as a result. The ocean, covering most of the marine biome's area, is both the water cycle's largest reservoir and the source of most of the water vapor that eventually falls as rain over land.
Facts
PeriodicityContinuous and cyclical with no true beginning or end point; a given water molecule's residence time averages about nine days in the atmosphere but can run to centuries or millennia in deep groundwater or ice sheets. 1 ScalePlanetary and continuous, linking the ocean, atmosphere, land surface and groundwater into one connected system. 1 First DescribedFrench scientist Pierre Perrault published De l'origine des fontaines anonymously in 1674, measuring the Seine River's flow against rainfall across its watershed and showing rainfall alone was more than sufficient to account for the river's flow, founding experimental hydrology and the modern theory of the hydrologic cycle; Edme Mariotte's more rigorous discharge measurements soon after strengthened the same conclusion. 2 Connections
Associated With
Source Carbon Cycle (Wikipedia)
Source Biogeochemical cycle (Wikipedia)
Source Biogeochemical cycle (Wikipedia)
Source Photosynthesis (Wikipedia)
Demonstrated By
Source National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
The marshes exist only because Tigris-Euphrates river inflow keeps them flooded; the 1990s drainage and post-2003 reflooding are a direct, large-scale human intervention in that same water cycle.
Source UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
NOAA states wetlands absorb and slow floodwaters and filter runoff before it reaches rivers and lakes, a direct role in the water cycle.
Source What Is a Wetland? (NOAA Ocean Service)
In the Other Atlases
Same As
Also in Geography Atlas: the same subject.
Sources
1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
2. Pierre Perrault (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationCareer sectionQuote, Career section
He estimated the flow in the Seine River and compared it with rainfall in the watershed, showing that the rainfall was easily enough to account for the flow in the river.
The Water Cycle (USGS Water Science School)
What is the water cycle? section
Water is stored in the atmosphere, on the land surface, and below the ground.
Fluxes move water between pools section
Water moves between the atmosphere and the surface through evaporation, evapotranspiration, and precipitation.
Opening paragraph, first sentence
The water cycle describes where water is on Earth and how it moves.
What drives the water cycle section, energy sentence
Energy from the sun and the force of gravity drive the continual movement of water between pools.
Pools store water section, oceans sentence
Oceans store 96% of all water on Earth.
View the SourceWater cycle (Wikipedia)
Lead section, first sentence
The water cycle (or hydrologic cycle or hydrological cycle) is a biogeochemical cycle that involves the continuous change in form of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth across different reservoirs.
Residence times section, atmosphere sentence
After evaporating, the residence time in the atmosphere is about 9 days before condensing and falling to the Earth as precipitation.
View the SourceEncyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.- Demonstrated By: Everglades
- Demonstrated By: Pantanal
- Demonstrated By: Okavango Delta
- Demonstrated By: Freshwater
- Demonstrated By: Llanos
- Demonstrated By: Tonle Sap
- Demonstrated By: Amazon Varzea Forest
- Demonstrated By: Mekong Delta
View the Source UNESCO World Heritage Centre
UNESCO World Heritage CentreDemonstrated By: Mesopotamian MarshesView the Source What Is a Wetland? (NOAA Ocean Service)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationDemonstrated By: WetlandsView the Source Carbon Cycle (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Carbon Cycle, Lead section, water cycle mentionQuote, Associated With: Carbon Cycle, Lead section, water cycle mention
Other major biogeochemical cycles include the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle.
Photosynthesis (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Photosynthesis, Lead section, photoautotroph sentenceQuote, Associated With: Photosynthesis, Lead section, photoautotroph sentence
Most photosynthetic organisms are photoautotrophs, which means that they are able to synthesize food directly from carbon dioxide and water using energy from light.
Biogeochemical cycle (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Nitrogen Cycle, Lead section, major cycles sentenceQuote, Associated With: Nitrogen Cycle, Lead section, major cycles sentence
Major biogeochemical cycles include the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle.
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