hydrosphere: Quick Facts

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Diagram illustrating Earth's environmental spheres, with labeled sections showing the geosphere (land and crust), biosphere (living things), atmosphere (air), and hydrosphere (water), each extending vertically from the Earth's surface.

Diagram of the water cycle showing processes like evaporation, condensation, precipitation, transpiration, infiltration, and groundwater flow between land, vegetation, surface water, and the ocean, with labeled arrows and color-coded soil moisture and groundwater zones.

Two Indigenous people paddle a small wooden boat on the wide, muddy Amazon River near Manaus, Brazil, under a dramatic cloudy sky with rainforest visible on the distant shore.

Diagram showing seasonal water circulation in a dimictic lake. In summer, the lake is layered with epilimnion at the top, metalimnion in the middle, and hypolimnion at the bottom, with wind-driven circulation in the upper layer. In autumn and spring, the lake undergoes overturn, mixing water throughout. In winter, ice forms on the surface, with 0 degreesC near the top and 4 degreesC at the bottom, resulting in minimal circulation. Arrows indicate the direction of water movement in each season.

A cross-sectional diagram of land shows the water table as the upper boundary of groundwater, with a stream and pond representing surface water where the water table meets the land surface. Unsaturated soil lies above the water table.

Perito Moreno Glacier, Los Glaciares National Park

Diagram of the surface hydrologic cycle showing water movement between oceans, atmosphere, land, lakes, rivers, ice, and groundwater, with arrows indicating evaporation, precipitation, vapor transport, and runoff. Volumes and fluxes are labeled in millions of cubic kilometers.

A line graph shows how precipitation and evaporation vary by latitude, with peaks in precipitation near the equator and poles, and peaks in evaporation around 30 degrees north and south. Wind belts such as polar easterlies, westerlies, and trade winds are labeled across the top, illustrating their relationship to these patterns.

Diagram showing a cross-section of Earth's interior with labeled layers: crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core. The lower section details the crust's structure, including ocean basin, continental shelf, granitic rock, basalt, and mantle rock.

The water cycle: From the ocean to the air

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Topics

lake inland water body sea convergence ocean-atmosphere interaction freshwater moisture content residence time seawater ocean current Atmosphere Biosphere hemisphere region lithosphere Moho Climate Equator Why Is Earth’s Axis Tilted?What Is Earth’s Velocity?

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