The hydrological cycle describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth. Water is evaporated from bodies of water into the atmosphere, where it condenses into clouds and precipitates as rain or snow back onto the Earth. Runoff from precipitation either infiltrates into the ground to replenish groundwater stores or flows across the surface as overland flow into streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, from which the cycle repeats. The main phases of the hydrological cycle are evaporation and evapotranspiration, precipitation, and runoff.
The hydrological cycle describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth. Water is evaporated from bodies of water into the atmosphere, where it condenses into clouds and precipitates as rain or snow back onto the Earth. Runoff from precipitation either infiltrates into the ground to replenish groundwater stores or flows across the surface as overland flow into streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, from which the cycle repeats. The main phases of the hydrological cycle are evaporation and evapotranspiration, precipitation, and runoff.
The hydrological cycle describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth. Water is evaporated from bodies of water into the atmosphere, where it condenses into clouds and precipitates as rain or snow back onto the Earth. Runoff from precipitation either infiltrates into the ground to replenish groundwater stores or flows across the surface as overland flow into streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, from which the cycle repeats. The main phases of the hydrological cycle are evaporation and evapotranspiration, precipitation, and runoff.
The hydrological cycle describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth. Water is evaporated from bodies of water into the atmosphere, where it condenses into clouds and precipitates as rain or snow back onto the Earth. Runoff from precipitation either infiltrates into the ground to replenish groundwater stores or flows across the surface as overland flow into streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, from which the cycle repeats. The main phases of the hydrological cycle are evaporation and evapotranspiration, precipitation, and runoff.
Water exists on the earth in gaseous form (water vapour), liquid and solid (ice) forms and is circulated among the different components of the Earth mainly by solar energy and planetary forces. Sunlight evaporates sea water and this evaporated form is kept in circulation by gravitational forces of Earth and wind action. The different paths through which water in nature circulates and is transformed is called hydrological cycle. Hydrological cycle is defined as the circulation of water from the sea to the land through the atmosphere back to the sea often with delays through process like precipitation, interception, runoff, infiltration, percolation, ground water storage, evaporation and transpiration also water that returns to the atmosphere without reaching the sea.
Figure 1 Descriptive representation of Hydrological cycle
The hydrological cycle has 3 important phases:
1. Evaporation & Evapotranspiration 2. Precipitation 3. Run off Evaporation takes place from the surface of ponds, lakes, reservoirs and ocean surfaces. Transpiration takes place from surface vegetation i.e. from plant leaves of cropped land forest etc. These vapours rise to sky and are condensed at higher altitude and form the clouds. The clouds melt and sometime burst resulting in precipitation of different forms like rain, snow, hail, mist and frosts. A part of this precipitation flows over the land as runoff and a part infiltrate into the soil which build up ground water table. The surface run-off joins the stream and thus water stored in the reservoir. A portion of the surface runoff and ground water flows back into ocean. Again evaporation starts from surfaces of lakes, reservoirs and ocean & thus the cycle repeats. PRECIPITATION It is defined as the return of atmospheric moisture to the ground in the form of solids or liquids. Precipitation is the fall of water in various forms on the earth from the cloud. The usual form of precipitation is rain and snow. In India snowfall occurs only in Himalayan region during water. Most of the precipitation occur in India is the form of rain. The following are the main characteristics of rainfall: a. Amount or quantity: The amount of rainfall is usually given as a depth over a specified area, assuming that all the rainfall accumulates over the surface and the unit for measuring amount of rainfall is cm. The volume of rainfall = Area x Depth of Rainfall (m3) The amount of rainfall occurring is measured with the help of rain gauges. b. Intensity: This is usually average of rainfall rate of rainfall during the special periods of a storm and is usually expressed as cm/ hour. c. Duration of Storm: In the case of a complex storm, we can divide it into a series of storms of different durations, during which the intensity is more or less uniform. d. Aerial distribution: During a storm, the rainfall intensity or depth etc. will not be uniform over the entire area. Hence we must consider the variation over the area i.e. the aerial distribution of rainfall over which rainfall is uniform. DEFINITIONS Infiltration: Infiltration is the passage of water across the soil surface. The vertical downward movement of water within the soil is known as percolation. The infiltration capacity is the maximum rate of infiltration for the given condition of the soil. Obviously the infiltration capacity decreases with time during/ after a storm. Overland Flow: This is the part of precipitation which is flowing over the ground surface and is yet to reach a well-defined stream. Surface runoff: When the overland flow enters a well-defined stream it is known as surface runoff (SRO). Interflow for Sub surface flow: A part of the precipitation which has in-filtered the ground surface may flow within the soil but close to the surface. This is known as interflow. When the interflow enters a well-defined stream, then and only it is called run off. Ground water flow: This is the flow of water in the soil occurring below the ground water table. The ground water table is at the top level of the saturated zone within the soil and it is at atmospheric pressure. Hence it is also called phreatic surface. A portion of water may enter a well-defined stream. Only then it is known as runoff or base flow. Hence we say that runoff is the portion of precipitation which enters a well-defined stream and has three components; namely- surface runoff, interflow runoff and ground water runoff or base flow. Evaporation: This is the process by which state of substance (water) is changed from liquid state to vapor form. Evaporation occurs constantly from water bodies, soil surface and even from vegetation. In short evaporation occurs when water is exposed to atmosphere (during sunlight). The rate of evaporation depends on the temperature and humidity. Transpiration: This is the process by which the water extracted by the roots of the plants is lost to the atmosphere through the surface of leaves and branches by evaporation. Hence it is also known as evapotranspiration. FORMS OF PRECIPITATION 1. Drizzle – This is a form of precipitation consisting of water droplets of diameter less than 0.05 cm with intensity less than 0.01cm/ hour. In this drops are so small that they appear to flow in the air. 2. Rainfall – This is a form of precipitation of water drops larger than 0.05cm diameter up to 0.6cm diameter. Water drops of size greater than 0.6 cm diameter tend to break up as they fall through the atmosphere. Intensity varies from 0.25 cm/ hour to 0.75cm/ hour. Light Rain – Traced to 0.25cm/hr Moderate rain – 0.25cm/hr to 0.75cm/hr Heavy rain – greater than 0.75cm/hr 3. Snow – This is precipitation in the form of ice crystals. These crystals usually carry a thin coating of liquid water and form large flakes when they collide with each other. 4. Hail – The precipitation in the form of balls are irregular of ice of diameter 5mm or more is called Hail. 5. Glaze (Freezing Rain) – This is the ice coating formed when a drizzle or rainfall comes in contact with very old objects on the ground. It occurs when there is cold layer of air with temperature below 00C 6. Sleet – Sleet is the precipitation in the form of melting snow. It is a mixture of snow and rain. It is in the form of pellet of diameter 1mm-4mm. Sleet is also known as small hail. 7. Frost – Frost is a form of precipitation which occurs in the form of scales, needles, feathers or fans. 8. Dew – Dew is a form of precipitation which doesn’t occur because of condensation in higher layer of atmosphere but it is formed by condensation directly on the ground. Dew occurs in the night when the ground surface is cooled by outgoing radiation.
