The Water Cycle ? ? ? The Sun’s energy drives the water cycle.

Now, let’s pretend… As you are leaving school one day, you see your mother waiting for you in a brand new car. You are very excited about the ride home! When your mother tries to start the car, nothing happens. The two of you walk to the front of the car and open the hood. When you look under the hood, there is no engine! The water cycle is the same way. It needs an engine to give it power to work. What powers the water cycle for the entire Earth?

The constant movement and endless recycling of water between the atmosphere, land surface, and underground on Earth is called - “The Water Cycle.

Evaporation Evaporation occurs when the Sun heats up water in rivers, lakes or the ocean and turns it into vapor. The water vapor leaves the river, lake or ocean and moves into the air. The ocean is the largest source of water to evaporate into the atmosphere. Heat from the Sun warms the water from the ocean and creates water vapor. How does water from the ocean evaporate?

Condensation Water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into drops that cling to each other, forming clouds. This process is called condensation. Condensation generally occurs in the atmosphere when warm air rises, cools and loses its ability to hold water vapor. As a result, excess water vapor condenses to form water droplets that turn into clouds.

Condensation in Your World You can see condensation at home... pour a glass of cold water on a hot day and watch what happens. Water forms on the outside of the glass. That water did not leak through the glass! It actually came from the air. Water vapor in the warm air turns back into liquid when it touches the cold glass. Condensation forming on a mirror after a hot shower.

Precipitation Precipitation occurs when so much water has condensed that the air cannot hold it anymore. The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the earth in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow.

Runoff Runoff is the movement of water on land to the oceans, mostly in the form of rivers, lakes, and streams. Runoff consists of precipitation that has not evaporated or moved below the surface to become groundwater. Even the smallest streams are connected to larger rivers that carry billions of gallons of water into oceans worldwide. In Arkansas, Ponca Wildness runoff after a fall rain.

Accumulation When water falls back to Earth as precipitation, it may fall back in the oceans, lakes or rivers or it may end up on land. When it ends up on land, it will either soak into the Earth (infiltration) and becomes part of the “groundwater” that plants and animals use to drink or it may run over the soil and collect in the oceans, lakes or rivers where the cycle starts all over again. Runoff from the mountains accumulates in Blowdown Lake.

Ocean Water in the oceans has lots of salt in it. Anyone who has taken a gulp of water while swimming in the ocean knows what it takes like. The saltiness of the water is called salinity. When the Sun evaporates the water from the ocean, the salt is left behind. The water cycle never ends because the salty ocean water constantly supplies fresh.

Let’s Review How does the Sun effect the water cycle? What is the relationship between the ocean and the water cycle? Let’s find out: Click on the water cycle diagram

Hi, my name is Ryan Raindrop. This is my story. As I sunbathe on the surface of the ocean, I begin to warm up.

As the Sun warms the water, I evaporate from the ocean and become a gas.

As I rise into the cool air, I group with other water droplets to form clouds.

Strong winds push the clouds toward the mountains.

Cool air at the top of the mountain prevents me from going over. I fall to the ground in the form of precipitation.

Once again I group with other water droplets. We accumulate in brooks or streams which lead to rivers and lakes or the ocean.

Now I wait for the process to begin again.

Credits Microsoft Clip Art USGS Wikipedia Commons