![]() ![]() It’s always happening, all around us, all the time. The water cycle works by using the energy of the sun to exchange water from the surface of the earth to the atmosphere and back again in a continuous cycle, whether liquid, solid or gas. The water cycle is the process by which water is continuously transferred between the surface of the earth and the atmosphere. Plants transpire water and the combination between the two is evapotranspiration.Water can exit the drainage basin as river flow.In the atmosphere, we can see liquid water droplets in clouds and we can also see ice crystals as clouds too, but these are usually much higher up. This is water leaving the drainage basin.Įvaporation: Water is evaporated from different Storages within the drainage basin. Throughflow occurs mostly in the unsaturated zone where impermable rocks hinders further percolation.Ĭan be defined as the slow seepage of water from groundwater sources to the bed of a river which is the main contibutor of river flow during water deficits. Near the surface(subsoil), water flows downhill through cracks, percolines or natural pipes untill it reaches a river. Percolation is the continous seepage of water underground through cracks, percolines and soil/rock spaces until the water fills all pore spaces within soil or rock forming a zone of permanent saturation. Small water droplets infiltrate more than large droplets.ĭry soils are thirsty and needs more water thus favours infiltration than already saturated soils which only encourage runoff. Vegetation can trap water from reaching the ground or can actually absorb water thus encouraging infiltration. Vegetation can favour or hinder infiltration. Heavy short lived rainfalls does not favour infiltration whereas gradual, prolonged rainfall have abudant time to infitrate. Hard surfaces especially in deserts makes infiltration less pronounced. Sandy soils with more pore spaces have high infiltration rate than compact, cohesive clays. Various factors affect infiltration and includes: The maximum rate at which water infiltrates or is absorbed by the soil is termed Infiltration Capacity (also measured in mm/hr). Infiltration rate is how fast water sinks into the soil. The initial sinking of water into the soil. Water trickling down the stems of plants or trunks of trees. Throughfall can be indirect with water dripping from branches or leaves to the ground. Precipitation that falls directly to the surface through gaps in the forest. These are flows and transfers of water within a drainage basin. Other less significant forms of precipitation include dew, hoar and rime which occur on the surface. They include rainfall, snow, sleet, hail. InputsĪll forms of precipitation entering a drainage basin. The Drainage Basin is an open system where there is the interaction between inputs, processes, stores and outputs. Drainage Basin Hydrological CycleĪ drainage basin/Catchment area is an area drained by a river and its tributaries. The drainage basin/catchment hydrological cycle provide good estimations of hydrological processes as the studies are done on a local scale rather than on a wider scale (global). The global water cycle is rather misleading as the availability of water varies from place to place around the globe. The difference in precipitation and evaporation constitutes to runoff. On the global hydrological cycle evaporation rate is greater than precipitation, while on land the latter is greater than the former. The remaining(3%) is distrubuted between lakes, rivers, glaciers, groundwater, atmosphere and marsh. The majority(97%) of water is found in oceans/seas. Estimates show that there is 1.6 billion km 3of water on the globe. The latter provide good estimates of hydrological processes. The hydrological cycle can be analyzed on a global scale or on a local (catchment) scale. The Hydrological Cycle/Water Cycle is the continous circluation of water as liquid, gas or solid in the atmosphere and on earth. ![]()
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