land The Water Cycle or the Hydrological Cycle describes the recycling of water from the oceans and lakes to the atmosphere, then back to the Earth and finally to the sea again. In different stages of its journey, water can be seen as an input or an output; in storage or being transferred. The driving force of the hydrological cycle is the Sun, which pulls water up from the oceans, the land and even plants through solar radiation to begin the process. Precipitation brings water to the land and shapes the landscape. Water also filters underground to create our aquifers.The process sees the conversion of water through all phases of solid, liquid and gas in its circulation on Earth.
At any given time:
97.3% of the Earth's water is in the oceans and seas
How many of the terms on the left do you remember?
TASK: Study pages 46 and 47 in The Caribbean Environment for CSEC Geography and answer the following questions for practice:
At any given time:
97.3% of the Earth's water is in the oceans and seas
- 2.1% is in the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps
- 0.6% is stored in the soil ans rocks
- 0.01% is in rivers and lakes
- 0.001% is held in the atmosphere as clouds and water vapour
How many of the terms on the left do you remember?
TASK: Study pages 46 and 47 in The Caribbean Environment for CSEC Geography and answer the following questions for practice:
- 1. Identify two ways in which water is transferred within the hydrological cycle.
- 2. Describe in detail two pathways that water takes once it reaches the Earth's surface.
- Name the process that inputs water into the hydrological circulation system.
- Explain one water output mechanism of the hydrological cycle.
- List three places that act as water storages within the hydrological cycle.
Click to view this You Tube video about the water cycle.