Water Cycle

The water cycle is the ongoing process in which water moves from the ground, into the atmosphere, and then back to earth’s surface.  We’re used to seeing the water cycle like this, composed of three basic steps:  evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

Simple Water Cycle

However, the actual water cycle is quite a bit more complicated and actually looks something like this:

Complex Water Cycle

You can learn more about the water cycle here.