The Water Cycle

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/mwater.htm
l
Where is Earths Water?
1. What does it mean that the Earth is a closed system, like a terrarium? Earth consist
of nothing but living things
2. How does the water amount from millions of years ago compare to todays water
amount? Its much more scarce now
3.Out of all the water on Earth, what percentage is usable by humans? 1.2%
4.Of the water usable by humans, where is the largest percentage of that water
found? Ice and snow
5.Complete the following diagram:
3
%
2.5
%

96.5
%

30.1
%

68.7
%

1.2
%

20.9
%

2.
5

.
26
.
49
2.
6

69
%

6. Of the freshwater, where is most of the water tied up? Groundwater and glacier/ice
caps
7. Of the remaining freshwater, where is the largest majority of that water found? Ice
and snow
8. What percentage of freshwater is found as surface water? 1.2%
9. Compare the amount of freshwater to the amount of saltwater in cubic kilometers:
Lakes: Fresh=91,000 Salt=85,400 and in Ground Water: Fresh=23,400,000
Salt=12,870,00

How Much Water Is There?

1. How much of the Earths surface is covered by water? 71%
2. Besides the ocean, where else does water exist? Air, rivers&lakes, Icecaps&glaciers,
ground&Aquifers, & living things such as humans and animals
3. Where does most of the water people and other life on Earth come from? Oceans
4. Compare the amount of groundwater to surface water: theres much more surface
water than groundwater and we certainly use more of it
5. What term is used for the storage place of groundwater? Aquifers
6. How is groundwater recharged? seepage
7. How does groundwater recharge rivers? Precipitation seeps into the ground and
recharges with seepage
8. In 2005, how much surface water did the United States use? 80%
9. In the same time period, how much groundwater did people use? 20%
The Water Cycle
What is another term used for the water cycle? Hydrologic Cycle
Atmosphere
1. Which two processes changes liquid water into vapor which then rises into the atmosphere?
evaporation
2. Which process produces the majority of the vapor in the atmosphere? condensation
3. What percentage of vapor does transpiration add to the atmosphere? 10%
4. If all the water in the atmosphere rained down and covered the Earth, how deep would it be?
1in.
Condensation
1. Define condensation: process by which water vapor in the air is changed into liquid water
2. Why is condensation an important part of the water cycle? It creates our clouds
3. Besides clouds, what else can happen due to condensation? fog
Evaporation
1. Define evaporation: the process in which water is changed from a liquid into a gas or vapor
2. Where does most of the evaporated water come from? ocean
3. What is necessary in order for evaporation to occur? Heat/sun
4. What percentage of the water evaporated from the ocean is transported over land and falls as
precipitation? 10%
5. How long does an evaporated water molecule stay in the air? 10 days

Evapotranspiration
1. According to this website, define evapotranspiration: (beneath the diagram) the sum of
evaporation from the land surface plus transpiration from plants
2. Define transpiration: the release of water from plant leaves
3. How much water in the atmosphere is due to transpiration: 10%
4. How does a plant transpire? Just like we do when we breath out
5. How much can an oak tree transpire during one day? 40,000 gallons
Freshwater Storage
1. What bodies of water does surface water include: streams, ponds, lakes, reservoirs and canals
2. What processes are included in inflows to surface water? precipitation, overland runoff,
groundwater seepage, and tributary inflows
3. What processes are included in outflows of surface water? evaporation, movement of
water into groundwater, and withdrawals by people
Groundwater Discharge
1. Describe why groundwater is an important part of the water cycle: its our drinking water and its
used for irrigation just like surface water
2. Where is the majority of groundwater found? underground
3. When are aquifers formed? When ground water accumilates
4. Explain how water becomes part of the groundwater: precipitation seeps into the ground
5. What percentage of freshwater is groundwater? 1.7%
Groundwater Storage
1. Where does most of the water in groundwater come from? precipitation
2. Describe the difference between the saturated zone and the unsaturated zone: saturated is
where the soil has greater pores than can hold water while unsaturated has less porous space
and cannot hold as much
3. What is the water table? The point where its nothing but water
4. To what level would you have to dig to find water? Water table

4. Label the diagram below:

Precipitati
on
Soil Zone
Water Table
Recharge

Water
Table

Unsaturated
Zone

Saturated
Zone

Ice, Snow, and Glaciers

1. What is meat by storage, in relation to the water cycle? Water that is locked up in its present
state for a long time
2. Where is the 90% of Earths ice mass found? Antarcticta
3. Where is the rest of it found? Greenland
4. What majority of freshwater is held in ice caps and glaciers? 68.7%
1. What is happening to water during infiltration? Its seeping through soil
2. What happens to water that infiltrates the shallow soil layer? floods
3. What happens to the water that infiltrates deeper? Collects into an aquifer
4. What is the greatest factor affecting infiltration? Saturation of soil
5. What happens to rain, once the soil is saturated? It seeps into the ground

Oceans
1. What percentage of water is found in the ocean? 96.5%
2. What percentage of evaporated water comes from the ocean? 90%
1. What forms of water can precipitation take? Rain, snow, sleet, & hail
2. How does most precipitation fall? When water droplets become too heavy to be held by clouds
3. What has to happen before water can fall as precipitation? condensation
4. How do water droplets grow? Water vapors combine together until theyre big&heavy enough to
fall as precipitation
5. Draw how raindrops actually look up to 3 mm:

Snowmelt Runoff
1. In what type of climates does snowmelt runoff play a significant role in streamflow? cold
2. What percentage of freshwater in the western states comes from snowmelt runoff? 75%
Springs
1. What are springs a result of an aquifer overflowing
Streamflow
1. How does USGS define streamflow: the amount of water flowing in a river

2.
3.
4.
5.

a stream? Bodies of flowing water

Why do rivers exist? Provides us with several of our needs
Where does water generally seek to flow? downward
What percentage of freshwater is found in rivers? 2.5%

Sublimation
1. What is sublimation? Conservation between the solid and the gaseous phases of matter
2. What is sublimation, in relation to the water cycle? Process of snow and ice changing into water
vapor in the air without melting in the
3. When does sublimation occur? Mostly at high altitudes, with less air pressure
4. Where on Earth does sublimation happen a lot? High altitudes
5. What is a Chinook Wind and where do they occur? vaporizes snow before it can even melt &
Rocky Mnts.

Surface Runoff
1. What is surface runoff? Water that flows over the surface of the Earth
2. When does runoff occur? when it rains and the soil is not capable of sustaining the water so it
runs off

Place the letter from the diagram above in the space provided next to its associated term in
the lists below:
[ I] Condensation
[ K] Evapotranspiration
[ E] Groundwater discharge
[ D] Infiltration
[ C] Snowmelt runoff to streams
[M] Streamflow
[ L] Surface runoff
[ A] Water storage in ice and snow
[ R] Desublimation [Q] Plant uptake

[ H] Evaporation
[ O] Freshwater storage
[ F] Groundwater storage
[ B] Precipitation
[ N] Spring
[ P] Sublimation
[ J] Water storage in the atmosphere
[ G] Water storage in oceans