Name _________________________________________________

Date ______________________

The Water Cycle

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/mwater.htm
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Where is Earths Water?
1. What does it mean that the Earth is a closed system, like a terrarium? Gravity keeps
everything inside.
2. How does water the water amount from millions of years ago compare to todays
water amount? It stays the same.
3. Out of all the water on Earth, what percentage is usable by humans? 2.5%
4.Of the water usable by humans, where is the largest percentage of that water found?
Locked up in glaciers.
5. Complete the following diagram:

6. Of the freshwater, where is most of the water tied up? Ground ice and permafrost.
7. Of the remaining freshwater, where is the largest majority of that water found? Oceans
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:
Theres 1,340 more cubic kilometers of freshwater than there is salt water.

How Much Water Is There?

1. How much of the Earths surface is covered by water? 70%
2. Besides the ocean, where else does water exist? Glaciers and ice caps, ground ice
and permafrost.
3. Where does most of the water people and other life on Earth come from? Oceans
hold about 96.5% of Earths water.
4. Compare the amount of groundwater to surface water: Theres more surface water
than groundwater.
5. What term is used for the storage place of groundwater? Groundwater Storage
6. How is groundwater recharged? Water moves downward from surface water to
groundwater
7. How does groundwater recharge rivers? By pulling water down from the surface.
8. In 2005, how much surface water did the United States use? 410,000, million
gallons a day
9. In the same time period, how much groundwater did people use? About 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& Condensation.
2. Which process produces the majority of the vapor in the atmosphere? Evaporation
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?
3,300 feet (1,000 meters) deep
Condensation
1. Define condensation: water that collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in
contact with it
2. Why is condensation an important part of the water cycle? It is responsible for the formation of
clouds.
3. Besides clouds, what else can happen due to condensation? Ground-level fog
Evaporation
1. Define evaporation: The changing of a liquid into a gas, often under the influence of heat
2. Where does most of the evaporated water come from? Oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers
3. What is necessary in order for evaporation to occur? Heat
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 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: 90%
4. How do plants transpire.
Water enters a plant through the root hairs, passes through the tissues of the root into the
xylem, and travels up through the xylem vessels into the leaves.
5. How much can an oak tree transpire during one day? 40,000 gallon per year
Freshwater Storage
1. What bodies of water does surface water include: Oceans, lakes, and reservoirs
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2. What processes are included in inflows to surface water? Evaporation & Precipitation
3. What processes are included in outflows of surface water? Evaporation
Groundwater Discharge
1. Describe why groundwater is an important part of the water cycle: It is the part of precipitation
that seeps down through the soil until it reaches rock material that is saturated with water.
2. Where is the majority of groundwater found? Stored between rock particles
3. When are aquifers formed? When the water reaches the ground
4. Explain how water becomes part of the groundwater: It reaches the saturated soil
5. What percentage of freshwater is groundwater? 30%
Groundwater Storage
1. Where does most of the water in groundwater come from? Rain
2. Describe the difference between the saturated zone and the unsaturated zone: The saturated zone
is the soil that is soaked in water. The unsaturated zone is the soil that is not soaked in water.
3. What is the water table? The level below which the ground is saturated with water.
4. To what level would you have to dig to find water? Until you reach the water table

4. Label the diagram below:

Ice, Snow, and Glaciers

1. What is meant by storage, in relation to the water cycle? The amount of water that is in a
glacier
2. Where is the 90% of Earths ice mass found? Antarctica
3. Where is the rest of it found? Greenland
4. What majority of freshwater is held in ice caps and glaciers? 69%
Infiltration
1. What is happening to water during infiltration? It gradually moves vertically and horizontally through
the soil and subsurface material
2. What happens to water that infiltrates the shallow soil layer? It gradually moves vertically and
horizontally through the soil and subsurface material
3. What happens to the water that infiltrates deeper? Rechargers groundwater aquifers
4. What is the greatest factor affecting infiltration? Precipitation
5. What happens to rain, once the soil is saturated? It forms a puddle on top of the soil
Oceans
1. What percentage of water is found in the ocean? 71%
2. What percentage of evaporated water comes from the ocean? 52%

Precipitation
1. What forms of water can precipitation take? Rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hail.
2. How does most precipitation fall? As rain
3. What has to happen before water can fall as precipitation? It has to evaporate and condense in
the sky
4.
5. How
How do
do water
water droplets
droplets grow?
grow? Condensation
Co
6. 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? Colder
climates
2. What percentage of freshwater in the western states comes from snowmelt runoff? 75%
Springs
1. What are springs a result of? When the side of a hill, a valley bottom or other excavation
intersects a flowing body of groundwater at or below the local water table
Streamflow
1. How does USGS define streamflow? The amount of water flowing in a river
2. What is a stream? Flowing water bodies
3. Why do rivers exist? drinking-water supplies and irrigation water, to produce electricity, to
flush away wastes (hopefully, but not always, treated wastes), to transport merchandise,
and to obtain food.
4. Where does water generally seek to flow? Underground
5. What percentage of freshwater is found in rivers? 3%
Sublimation
1. What is sublimation? The conversion between the solid and gaseous phases of matter, with no
immediate liquid stage.
2. What is sublimation, in relation to the water cycle? The process of snow and ice changing into
water vapor in the air without first melting into water
3. When does sublimation occur? In the presence of carbon dioxide
4. Where on Earth does sublimation happen a lot? When certain weather conditions are present
5. What is a Chinook Wind and where do they occur? westerlies from the Pacific whose
moisture gets wrung out as it passes over the Rocky Mountains

Surface Runoff
1. What is surface runoff? the flow of water that occurs when excess water from rain, meltwater,
or other sources flows over the earth's surface
2. When does runoff occur? When soil is saturated to its full capacity or because ran arrives faster
than the soil can absorb.

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

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