The Hydrologic Cycle The hydrologic cycle, also known as the water cycle, is the process of water movement

on earth in an endless mode. The hydrologic cycle describes the circulation of water throughout the earth-atmosphere system with different processes that water undergoes when it moves around the world (Alberta Government, n. d.). This endless movement of water conserves the total amount of earths water (Foundation for Water Research, 2010). Therefore the global hydrologic cycle has a fundamental characteristic, that is, it has no beginning and it has no end. The hydrologic cycle can be described with three major processes, namely, evaporation, condensation and precipitation (See Figure 1). Evaporation process is the starting point of the hydrologic cycle which occurs in the ocean. Evaporation process is a phenomenon where the heat from solar system transforms the water in the ocean into gaseous state (vapour) below boiling point after water absorbs the heat. The energy from solar system changes the phase of water from liquid to vapour state is referred to as latent heat. Latent heat is the kind of energy which promotes evaporation process (Ritter, 2006). According to Northwest River Forecast Centre (n. d.), when water is heated, surface molecules become sufficiently energized to break free from the attractive force formed among molecules. After that, those surface molecules are evaporated into atmosphere and exist as water vapour in the atmosphere. The next process in the hydrologic cycle is condensation. Condensation happens when the physical state of water vapour changes from vapour to liquid form. Northwest River Forecast Centre (n. d.) stated that condensation is brought about by cooling of the air or by increasing the amount of vapour in the air to its saturation point (para. 6). Water vapour which evaporates into the air is circulated within the atmosphere causing the vapour molecules to lift and cool down. At this stage, water vapour condenses into liquid water. Initially these liquid water droplets are much smaller than raindrops and are not heavy enough to fall as precipitation. Therefore, these tiny water droplets create clouds when mixed with dust, pollen or pollutants. During the driving of wind, the droplets continue to circulate within the clouds, collide and form larger clouds (Egger, 2003).

Precipitation process takes place after the condensation process. Precipitation occurs when any forms of water particles or droplets inside the clouds are precipitated from atmosphere and reach the ground. The larger clouds which contain more water droplets are exposed to gravity and friction force. As a result, the water droplets are heavy enough to fall on earth as rain, hail, snow or sleet (precipitated water) (Northwest River Forecast Centre, n. d.). After precipitation, the precipitated water travels back to ocean in several processes, namely, runoff, interception, infiltration, percolation and transpiration. Firstly, precipitated water travels back to ocean by runoff process. Runoff is the movement of water, frequently from precipitation, across the earth's surface towards stream channels, lakes, oceans, or depressions or low points in the earth's surface (National Geoscience Database of IRAN, 2004, para. 9). This precipitated water adheres to objects on the earth surface or flow through the land into the surface stream after the precipitated water reaches the earth. The portion of precipitated water that flows in surface streams is called surface runoff. Surface runoff flows over the surface stream channels and the ground surface to travel back to the ocean (Northwest River Forecast Centre, n. d.). Besides runoff, interception process also travels the precipitated water back to the ocean. According to Ritter (2006), interception process happens when the precipitated water is intercepted by vegetation and structures before the precipitated water reached the ground. Precipitated water is intercepted by vegetation and retained as surface storage, for example, dew. Then, the dew is evaporated to the atmosphere. Precipitated water is also dripped off from vegetation onto the ground surface and flows back to the ocean through surface channels (Subramanya, 2008). Thirdly, infiltration process transports the precipitated water back to the ocean. Infiltration is the physical process involving the vertical movement of water through the boundary area between the atmosphere and the soil layer (Northwest River Forecast Centre, n. d.). After the precipitated water soaks into the soil, some of this water remains in the shallow soil layer and returns to the earth surface at springs or in low spots downhill as surface runoff. Besides, some of the water infiltrates deeper, remains in the underground as groundwater and travels back to ocean by underground channels (Perlman, 2011). Furthermore, percolation is another process of movement of water to back to the ocean. Percolation is a process where some portion of the precipitated water percolates down into the groundwater

zone horizontally and exists as groundwater in the soil and rock layer. Groundwater percolates through the soil by moving along in the fracture of rock, void, channel and lastly seeps out to the stream channels and travels back to the ocean (National Geoscience Database of IRAN, 2004). In addition, after precipitation, transpiration process moves the precipitated water back to the atmosphere. Transpiration is the phenomenon where the vegetations absorb water from soil and evaporate the water back to atmosphere as water vapour (The Evergreen Project, 1995). The water vapour is transpired back to atmosphere by the leafy parts of the vegetations after the precipitated water is absorbed by vegetations through the roots of the stem. Consequently, the water vapour which is evaporated to the atmosphere is condensed and precipitated back to the earth surface, forming a new hydrologic cycle again. The hydrologic cycle is very important in variety of fields such as agriculture, forestry, geography, economics and sociology (Subramanya, 2008). The understanding and the studies of the hydrologic cycle is practical to conserve the total amount of water on earth so that the water can be reused over and over again.

References: Alberta Government. (n. d.). Water quality and hydrology. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://www3.gov.ab.ca/env/water/gwsw/quantity/learn/what/hc_

hydrocycle/hc1_what_is.html Egger, A. E. (2003). The hydrologic cycle: Water's journey through time, Vol. EAS-2 (2), 2003. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://www.visionlearning.com /library/module_viewer.php?mid=99 Foundation for Water Research. (2010). Hydrological cycle: What is the hydrological cycle. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://www.euwfd.com/html/ hydrological_cycle.html National Geoscience Database of IRAN. (2004). Hydrologic cycle. Retrieved February 26, 2011, from http://www.ngdir.ir/sitelinks/kids/html/water_en_co_hydrologic% 20cycle.html.htm Northwest River Forecast Centre. (n. d.). Hydrologic cycle: Description of hydrologic cycle. Retrieved February 25, 2011, from http://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/info/ water_cycle/hydrology.cgi Perlman, H. (2011). Infiltration: The downward movement of water from the land surface into soil or porous rock. Retrieved February 25, 2011, from http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclesummary.html Ritter, M. E. (2006). The physical environment: An introduction to physical geography. Retrieved February 26, 2011, from http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/ geog101/textbook/hydrosphere/hydrologic_cycle.html Subramanya, K. (2008). Engineering hydrology (3rd ed.). Singapore: Tata McGrawHill. The Evergreen Project. (1995). The water cycle. Retrieved February 27, 2011, from http://www.mbgnet.net/fresh/cycle/concepts.htm

Appendix:

Interception

Percolation Figure 1: The Hydrologic Cycle. (Taken from http://www.solcomhouse.com/hydrologiccycle.htm)