Table of Contents
What is the ultimate fate of precipitation?
A key attribute of the terrestrial water cycle is the partitioning of precipitation into its two ultimate fates: “green water” that is evaporated or transpired back to the atmosphere, and “blue water” that is discharged to stream channels.
What is the fate of rainfall?
When rain falls on lawns, pastures and forests, some evaporates from the surface of the plants, but much of it sinks into the soil. Losses of evaporation from the soil are rather ineffective below about 4” (10 cm) depth.
What is the result of precipitation?
Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor (reaching 100% relative humidity), so that the water condenses and “precipitates” or falls. Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud.
What happens to most of precipitation?
Once on the land, rainfall either seeps into the ground or becomes runoff, which flows into rivers and lakes. What happens to the rain after it falls depends on many factors such as: The rate of rainfall: A lot of rain in a short period tends to run off the land into streams rather than soak into the ground.
What are the 3 stages of water?
There are three phases of water that are studied in elementary school: solid, liquid, and gas. Water can be found in all three phases on Earth.
What is the last stage of water cycle?
This is called condensation. Precipitation occurs when so much water has condensed that the air cannot hold it anymore. The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the earth in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow.
Is precipitation same as rain?
Precipitation is water released from clouds in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hail. It is the primary connection in the water cycle that provides for the delivery of atmospheric water to the Earth. Most precipitation falls as rain.
What is precipitation does precipitation always result in rain?
Precipitation is always fresh water, even when the water originated from the ocean. This is because sea salt does not evaporate with water. However, in some cases, pollutants in the atmosphere can contaminate water droplets before they fall to the Earth. The precipitation that results from this is called acid rain.