Describe the flow of matter and energy in the water cycle - Middle School Life Science

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Question

What process in the hydrological cycle returns water back to lakes, oceans, and rivers from the atmosphere?

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Answer

The answer is "precipitation."

The water cycle, also called the hydrological cycle, describes the flow of water on Earth. Most of Earth’s water exists in the oceans. Some important processes in the water cycle are precipitation, evaporation, condensation, runoff, and sublimation or deposition. Water evaporates from the ocean, condenses in clouds, and rains down (precipitates) back to the Earth, where it is collected in oceans or as runoff in rivers and streams that lead back to the oceans.

Only about 3% of Earth’s water is freshwater, and most of that is frozen in glaciers rather than available to us in lakes, rivers, or groundwater stores. Snow melt is a form of runoff but some snow can return to the atmosphere through a process called sublimation, and back to snow from a gaseous state through deposition.

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