Water is a natural resource that can be renewed. It is an important natural resource. Everyone needs water, be it animals, plants, and humans. We can’t survive without water. Apart from the functionality in human’s body, water is also used to carry out various activities, such as washing, cooking, and so on. That’s one of the reason how water had become an important element in our life. Hunger can be suppressed but thirst can’t. Therefore, water is very vital.
(Also read: Coastal Ecosystem: Characteristics, Components, Types and Benefits)
Water Cycle
The amount of water in this world is massive, even the surface of the Earth itself is mostly covered by water. But even though there are many, the use of water is also very large. We can imagine for ourselves how much water is used every day. But have we ever thought about water reserves in this world? Why it is still available even it’s used every day? Especially in the dry season. Well, this is because of the water cycle. The water cycle is the cycle of rotation of water from its origin, then rain and returns to the land of origin. This is why water is always enough to be used every day. We can find the water cycle in everyday life, especially in the event of the rain. The water cycle turns out to have many different types. We need to know these types of water cycles through the explanations we will describe below.
(Also read: Understanding Delta and Its Morphology Along With The Types)
Types of Water Cycles
The water cycle has many types. These types of water are divided based on the process or stages. We can find several types of water cycles in everyday life. The types of water cycles around us include the following:
- Short Hydrological Cycle (Small Cycle)
The first type of hydrological cycle is a short hydrological cycle, also known as a small hydrological cycle. This small hydrological cycle is the simplest cycle because it only involves a few stages. As for the few stages in the short hydrological cycle or the small hydrological cycle, these include the following:
- Sunlight is about water sources on Earth and will make the water source evaporate
- Because of the evaporation, condensation occurs so that it then forms a cloud containing water vapor
- Clouds containing water vapor then experience saturation and rain falls on the surface of the sea
Because rain in this short hydrological cycle occurs directly above sea level, there are no more stages of flowing to the sea. The rainwater that descends into the sea then mixes again and experiences a water cycle again.
- Medium Cycle
The next water cycle is a medium cycle. The medium cycle certainly has a process that is slightly longer than the short hydrological cycle. The several stages of the current hydrological cycle include the following:
- The sun shines on the surface of the Earth including water sources (various seas, oceans, and so on) so that the sources of water experience evaporation
- Then evaporation occurs
- The water vapor that has been formed (the result of heating) moves because it is blown by the wind to land
- A cloud is formed as a result of the warming up earlier
- Rain falls above the surface of the Earth’s land
- Water that descends on land will flow into the river and then flow into the sea again to experience the hydrological cycle
- Long Cycle (Large Cycle)
Next is the long hydrological cycle or large hydrological cycle. The long or large hydrological cycle has more complex stages than the two cycles above. Some stages of the long hydrological cycle include the following:
- The sun shines on the surface of the Earth including water sources (sea, ocean, and so on) so that the sources of water experience evaporation
- Then evaporation occurs
- Then the water vapor undergoes sublimation
- The water vapor that has formed and undergoes sublimation then causes the formation of clouds containing ice crystals
- The cloud formed then moves ashore because of the wind
- Then there was rain on the land of the Earth
- Water that descends on land will flow into the river and then flow into the sea again to experience the hydrological cycle
Those are some types of water cycle that exist on Earth. Whatever type it is, the water cycle is definitely a water spinning activity on Earth. The water cycle illustrates that water also has activities and that is the reason why the water on Earth is always stable in number even though it is always used greetings daily activities.