What is the process by which plants return water to the atmosphere called?
Transpiration
Transpiration: The release of water from plant leaves Plants put down roots into the soil to draw water and nutrients up into the stems and leaves. Some of this water is returned to the air by transpiration.
What makes the water moving through the atmosphere a cycle?
The sun, which drives the water cycle, heats water in the oceans. Some of it evaporates as vapor into the air. The vapor rises into the air where cooler temperatures cause it to condense into clouds. Air currents move clouds around the globe, cloud particles collide, grow, and fall out of the sky as precipitation.
What are the ways in which water vapor can re enter the atmosphere?
Water at the surface of the ocean, rivers, and lakes can become water vapor and move into the atmosphere with a little added energy from the Sun through a process called evaporation. Snow and ice can also become water vapor through a process called sublimation.
How does the atmosphere contribute to the water cycle?
Downloadable Water Cycle Products (coming soon!) The atmosphere is the superhighway in the sky that moves water everywhere over the Earth. Water at the Earth’s surface evaporates into water vapor which rises up into the sky to become part of a cloud which will float off with the winds, eventually releasing water back to Earth as precipitation.
What do plants do when the water cycle is dry?
Leaves release this absorbed moisture into the atmosphere by transpiration. In dry weather conditions, the stomata expand and open wide to release water vapor during transpiration to keep the plant cool and also pulls up groundwater through their roots to the leaves.
How does evaporation and transpiration affect the water cycle?
Evaporation and transpiration change liquid water into vapor, which ascends into the atmosphere due to rising air currents. Cooler temperatures aloft allow the vapor to condense into clouds and strong winds move the clouds around the world until the water falls as precipitation to replenish the earthbound parts of the water cycle.
How is precipitation a part of the water cycle?
Precipitation describes any liquid or solid water that falls to Earth as a result of those two processes. It includes rain, hail, snow, sleet and a bunch more. Precipitation is one of many ways that water is cycled from the atmosphere to the Earth or Ocean.