An Explanation of the Water Cycle (with Pictures and Diagrams)

This is an excellent article.

Firstly, it simply a great article - it does what it sets out to do and does it well. It breaksdown the whole water cycle into easily digestible chunks and uses some great graphics.

But it goes further than merely describing the process...

By showing us the complex mechanisms and the earth-moving forces at work to 'create' something that everyone thinks of as one of the most simplest things in the world -- water? what's complicated about water!? -- it shows us that it is indeed not something that should be taken for granted and that us meddling in any step of the creation process could lead to utter disaster: the whole process falling apart .

Maybe when people see just how complex the process is they'll respect water for the valuable commodity it is and not be so eager to waste it.

Great piece.
Steve N. Lee
eco-blog http://www.lionsledbysheep.com

A very good article.

One possible improvement, would be to include a section on how man interferes with the water cycle. We pump ground water, pollute it, run sewers, eliminate wetlands and install pavement over a huge area. We make up for this reduction of available surface and ground water somewhat by sprinkling our lawns. ...

A very good article.

One possible improvement, would be to include a section on how man interferes with the water cycle. We pump ground water, pollute it, run sewers, eliminate wetlands and install pavement over a huge area. We make up for this reduction of available surface and ground water somewhat by sprinkling our lawns. ...

I'd like to second Anon's idea about demonstrating how we mess this up; nonsource point pollution, combined sewer overflows, pipe and pond retention, the whole shootin' match. Our water handling infrastructure is crumbling (no suprise as most of the methodology and even the hardware dates to the 40's and 50's) and we need to demonstrate just how badly this effects us and the rest of the biosphere to get folks attention...

this article is the best one ive ever seen

Earth’s Hydrologic Cycle Redefined

The Oceanic Cycle
In recent years, Dr. Robert Ballard, of the Institute for Exploration, has led research efforts in developing a better understanding of how water circulates in our oceans. Ballard’s observations indicate that the water in our oceans circulates in a fashion somewhat similar to that of our continental plates. When continental plates collide, one plate will slide beneath the other. This forces one plate to increase its elevation while the other is forced down toward the center of Earth’s core where it will be melted. Eventually, new land will emerge through molten vents beneath our ocean or on land.
In similar fashion, a portion of Earth’s oceanic water is constantly forced by pressure and pulled by gravity toward the center of our Earth’s core. Eventually, this water will emerge as superheated steam through oceanic vents or volcanoes and vents on land. According to Dr. Ballard, all the water in our Earth’s ocean is recycled in this fashion every 6 to 8 million years, and that this process is instrumental in supporting the health of oceanic life.

The Cosmic Cycle
Small clumps of ice formed by interstellar water have been documented as entering Earth’s atmosphere. This phenomenon was discovered by, Dr. Louis A. Frank, who stated at a scientific conference in 1997 that, “…snowballs are bombarding the upper atmosphere, then breaking up, adding water to Earth’s oceans and possibly nurturing life on the planet…The snowballs are actually small comets about 40 feet in diameter that appear to be streaking toward Earth in a steady stream…the snowballs are no danger to people on Earth.”
As minute quantities of cosmic water are added to Earth’s atmosphere by "snowballs" and passing comets, there is the simultaneous loss of water from our upper atmosphere into outer space. According to Professor George Lenz, “We can estimate the rate at which water is being lost [to outer space] today by estimating the rate at which water molecules in the atmosphere are dissociated into it constituent hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is light enough that it easily moves off into space. The net effect is of hydrogen loss decreases the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. A good estimate is that 5x10(11) grams are lost this way each year.”

A New Definition for Earth’s Hydrologic Cycle
When Dr. Robert Ballard’s oceanic water cycle is combined with the research of Dr. Louis Frank’s cosmic snowballs and deposition from comets, and Professor George Lenz’s statement on the loss of atmospheric water into outer space, we have a basis for redefining Earth’s “hydrologic cycle”.
The old definition of the hydrologic cycle was expressed somewhat as follows:
Water continuously evaporates as water vapor from earth’s ocean and other water sources into our atmosphere; the water vapor cools and then falls as rain back into the ocean or on land; rain that falls on land nourishes life and is sometimes stored for a time in wetlands and underground aquifers; eventually, water from land returns to the ocean.

In review of the above information, we may now redefine Earth’s hydrologic cycle as one that is open with the universe. With greater accuracy we may now define Earth’s hydrologic cycle as follows:
Earth’s hydrologic cycle is composed of three interactive water cycles: the cycle of Earth’s surface water with its molten core; the cycle of Earth's surface water with the sun; and the interactive cycle of Earth’s water with cosmic space.

this is amazing but you should do one for kids at secondray school

Hi I think you are doing a great job with this website!

This type of pictorial information about life cycle is very usefull for the student's as it is already proved that pictorial presentation is easy to understand and ease to learn.

Shawn
----------------------------------------------------

this is alsome and help s children that have projects on this sort of stuff understand it more than they would from like a teacher; they ,might miss something!

THANK YOU AMY!!!

I have been searching so long for a deeper understanding of our water cycle. I once asked my friend out of curiosity, does water ever get added to the water cycle? He thought it was a stupid question because, as children, we are all taught that it is a closed system. This didn't make sense to me because it ignores our planet's relationship with the cosmos. Now, I know exactly what happens. What did strike me as a surprise was the loss of water to space, because at some point there has to be a large supply coming back in to replace the slow but steady loss of water. I wonder if catastrophic comets are the answer, both destroying life and replenishing some of Earth's water supply.

Oops, I meant to say THANK YOU William E. Mark!!!

this is cool but should have more diagrams

Great Article.

I'm a weather broadcaster stationed in the Caribbean and do a lot of reading out loud to myself. I found this (reading out loud to myself before airing) a great help in conveying clarity of any subject, including and especially the weather.

I did this ( reading aloud, not airing )with this article and found many areas of confusion due to sentence structure. However, I got the message.

Content was great. Sentence structure needed some help.