This article provides a note on hydrologic cycle with the help of a diagram.
Streams transport water to the sea. From the surface of the oceans, streams and lakes (or reservoirs) water is evaporated into the atmosphere. In addition, water is also evaporated into the atmosphere through plants and trees which take water from their root-zone soil. Furthermore, moisture in the upper layers of ground also evaporates into the atmosphere.
The evaporated water (from the earth’s surface) goes into the atmosphere and, under favourable conditions, comes back to the earth’s surface in the form of precipitation. Thus, the same water has been transferred time and again from the atmosphere to the land and then to sea and back to the atmosphere. This cycle of water amongst earth, ocean and atmospheric systems is known as the hydrologic cycle (Fig. 2.2)