The water cycle
The quantity of water on our planet is constant. This means that in former times there was the same amount of water as today. The water can be stored in different reservoirs: By far the most water is found in the ocean, but some of it occurs as water vapour in the air, droplets in clouds, water in lakes, ground water and ice and snow on land.
Follow the numbers and find out what happens in the figure:
1) Water evaporates from the ocean and becomes clouds
2) The cloud is transported over land where the water falls as rain or snow
3) Part of the rain will be transported back to the ocean through rivers and streams
4) Part of the rain will become ground water and lakes
5) Part of the rain will evaporate or be used by the plants
6) Part of the snow will become glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets.
