The Water Cycle

Up, down, and all around!

Evaporation, transpiration, condensation,

sublimation, and deposition.

Welcome to the water cycle, the first step in the journey to understanding the cycles that enable all the wonders in the world. There are three common processes in the water cycle: Evaporation, condensation, and transpiration. Evaporation is the process of liquid water, like what's in the ocean, becoming a gas. Transpiration is water that is released by plants into the atmosphere during their natural processes, and condensation is the opposite of evaporation and the cause of your beer glass collecting moisture on the outside (think: morning dew). These three processes in the water cycle are the main driving forces (in conjunction with other cycles to be mentioned in later pages) that drive our weather patterns, and of course, support all life on the planet.

Under extreme conditions, water can also perform two other rather extraordinary acts;

1. Sublimation: a process where a frozen wet surface is met by sudden warm and dry conditions, which causes ice to turn directly to vapor (this often happens in the Rocky Mountains when warmer dry air is blown over the snowpacks).


2. Deposition (desublimation): a process where a tepid dry surface is met by sudden freezing wet conditions, whereby water vapor skips the liquid stage and form ice crystals straight from the air (and causes morning frost to form instead of morning dew).

The landscape of the planet and the influence of the sun are the main influences on the water cycle, as it's those two factors in conjunction that effect temperature, air pressure, and ultimately where water moves in its journey through its cycle. Obsticles like mountains and open spaces like valleys create differences in pressure and temperature that cause the conditions that force water through its many phases, and the reason that every region of this planet has its own local weather patterns. See more about mountain and valley formation in later sections.

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