The hydrological cycle or more commonly known as the water cycle is the natural process of water traveling on earth. We certainly still remember when we were still in school with Geography lessons?
One of the materials we study in Geography is the hydrologic cycle. While hydrology is actually a field of science whose scope includes the origin and process of the occurrence of water, the movement and distribution of water, and the properties of water.
Based on the scope of hydrology, the hydrological cycle focuses on the problem of the natural movement of water. We need to know the hydrological cycle to find out how the water that we always need for various daily needs never runs out.
We always use water every day, but have you ever thought about why the water we continue to use never runs out? In fact, it always appears continuously, both from the soil, and from the movement of water in the hydrological cycle.
By knowing how the water reproduces every day through the hydrological cycle, we will no longer be confused about why the water is always there all the time.
Hydrological Cycle – Cycle of Travel and Movement of Water on Earth
Every object has its own cycle, water is no exception. You certainly haven't forgotten how the air we breathe every day can be obtained at any time, how a caterpillar can turn into a beautiful butterfly, and how a tadpole can turn into a frog.
Well, water too, has its own cycle, namely the hydrological cycle. Learning how the hydrological cycle occurs is not difficult, especially since we have heard about it when we were in school or from BMKG information.
Studying the hydrologic cycle provides a distinct advantage for us. One of them is by knowing the hydrological cycle, we know how step by step the cycle of water movement is until it reaches the house.
The hydrological cycle is a cycle of water movement that starts from the atmosphere to the earth and back again to the atmosphere. The hydrological cycle is carried out by means of condensation, evaporation, transpiration and evapotranspiration.
Of the four ways in the hydrological cycle, the process of water movement occurs through three hydrological cycles. Before we discuss what the hydrological cycle is, we should first know some of the components that occur during the process of water movement taking place in the hydrological cycle. What are the components that occur during the process of the hydrologic cycle?
Evaporation or Precipitation. You know with water vapor? Well, the water vapor is produced through the process of evaporation or precipitation. How to? The water on the earth's surface consisting of land and oceans is exposed to sunlight, then turns into water vapor, but this water vapor cannot be seen in the atmosphere.
Based on research records, an amount of 95000 cubic miles of water vapor is generated each year. Of all the total amount of water vapor, as much as 80,000 cubic miles comes from the ocean, and the rest comes from rivers, lakes, and transpiration by plants.
Transpiration. Transportation that plays a role in this hydrological cycle is the process of releasing water vapor from plants, especially from the leaves, namely the mouth of the leaf.
Evapotranspiration. From the term alone we can guess what evapotranspiration is that occurs in the hydrological cycle. Yes, evapotranspiration is a process in the hydrological cycle as a combination of evaporation and transpiration.
Condensation. The water vapor that has been generated from the evaporation process undergoes a condensation process in the form of rising water vapor to the highest layer of the atmosphere. Water vapor in the atmospheric layer undergoes a cooling process to become dew or water droplets. Then the collection of dew or water droplets is used as a component of cloud formation.
precipitation. The component that occurs in the hydrological cycle is also known as rain. You certainly already know the rain right? Well, this rain comes from dew that turns into a large and heavy cloud, then it is lowered to the earth in the form of small or large drops of water.
advection. The component that occurs in the next water cycle is advection. What is advection? Advection is a process of transporting water in the form of a horizontal movement, such as the movement of heat or water vapor from one place to another with the help of horizontal air movement.
Infiltration or Percolation. The process of precipitation drops water droplets from the clouds to the earth's surface, then the water seeps into the ground. Now, this process is called infiltration, because the infiltration of water droplets from clouds flows through cracks or pores in the soil and rocks, until they finally reach the ground water table. The water infiltration then becomes underground water.
Surface Runoff. The component that occurs in the next hydrological cycle is surface runoff. Surface runoff is described by moving water due to capillary action that moves vertically and horizontally from below the ground surface, so that the water enters the surface water system again.
Interception. Interception is a movement of water in the hydrological cycle in the form of rainwater that falls in the forest, but the rainwater does not seep into the ground. As a result of not soaking rainwater into the soil, the rainwater was stuck in the leaves or tree trunks.
Hydrological Cycle Processes that Occur on Earth
We already know that there are at least nine components that occur in the hydrological cycle. The nine components that occur in the hydrological cycle are a part that will never be lost in the hydrological cycle.
This does not mean that every hydrological cycle of the nine components occurs, but that in every hydrological cycle that occurs, several components that occur in the cycle play a role. To be clear, here are some stages of the hydrological cycle:
Short Hydrological
Cycle This short hydrological cycle occurs because it only goes through three of the nine components of the hydrological cycle process. This short hydrological cycle first occurs in the process of evaporation or evaporation of water from the sea, then the water vapor condenses in the form of dew drops. From the condensation process, water vapor that has accumulated a lot in clouds, experiences precipitation by lowering it in the form of rain.
Moderate Hydrological Cycle
The moderate hydrological cycle is not much different from the short hydrologic cycle. It's just that in this moderate hydrological cycle we get help from winds that carry water back to the sea. The hydrological cycle is starting from the evaporation process towards the atmospheric layer in the form of water vapor due to exposure to sunlight.
Then from evaporation it undergoes a condensation process, at this stage of condensation it is influenced by the wind, so that the dew points that form clouds are carried away to the mainland with a certain height. At a certain height the dew points experience precipitation and reduce the dew points in the form of rain. Finally, the rain that falls will flow into rivers, lakes, and back to the ocean.
Long Hydrological Cycle
What about the movement of water through this long hydrological cycle? This hydrological cycle is said to be long not because it uses all the components that occur in the hydrological cycle process, but in the course of the hydrological cycle it undergoes a sublimation stage, so that the dew points are not rainwater but snow or ice.
The long hydrological cycle starts with the evaporation process, then converts water vapor into water droplets in condensation. However, during this condensation process, it undergoes sublimation in the form of water crystals such as snow and ice in clouds.
After going through the condensation process, the water droplets in the form of snow or ice fall as rain. The rainwater that falls partially seeps into the ground and turns into groundwater. Then the rain water that flows to the land goes to rivers, lakes and back again to the sea. But there is groundwater that can come to the surface of the ground known as springs.
So, that's a long hydrological cycle that we can observe. This long hydrological cycle is the longest hydrological cycle in the process of moving water on earth.