Earth is a truly unique in its abundance of water. Water is necessary to sustaining life on Earth, and helps tie together the Earth's lands, oceans, and atmosphere into an integrated system. Precipitation, evaporation, freezing and melting and condensation are all part of the hydrological cycle - a never-ending global process of water circulation from clouds to land, to the ocean, and back to the clouds. This cycling of water is intimately linked with energy exchanges among the atmosphere, ocean, and land that determine the Earth's climate and cause much of natural climate variability. The impacts of climate change and variability on the quality of human life occur primarily through changes in the water cycle. As stated in the National Research Council's report on Research Pathways for the Next Decade (NRC, 1999): "Water is at the heart of both the causes and effects of climate change."

Importance of the ocean in the water cycle

The ocean plays a key role in this vital cycle of water. The ocean holds 97% of the total water on the planet; 78% of global precipitation occurs over the ocean, and it is the source of 86% of global evaporation. Besides affecting the amount of atmospheric water vapor and hence rainfall, evaporation from the sea surface is important in the movement of heat in the climate system. Water evaporates from the surface of the ocean, mostly in warm, cloud-free subtropical seas. This cools the surface of the ocean, and the large amount of heat absorbed the ocean partially buffers the greenhouse effect from increasing carbon dioxide and other gases. Water vapor carried by the atmosphere condenses as clouds and falls as rain, mostly in the ITCZ, far from where it evaporated, Condensing water vapor releases latent heat and this drives much of the the atmospheric circulation in the tropics. This latent heat release is an important part of the Earth’s heat balance, and it couples the planet’s energy and water cycles.

The major physical components of the global water cycle include the evaporation from the ocean and land surfaces, the transport of water vapor by the atmosphere, precipitation onto the ocean and land surfaces, the net atmospheric transport of water from land areas to ocean, and the return flow of fresh water from the land back into the ocean. The additional components of oceanic water transport are few, including the mixing of fresh water through the oceanic boundary layer, transport by ocean currents, and sea ice processes. On land the situation is considerably more complex, and includes the deposition of rain and snow on land; water flow in runoff; infiltration of water into the soil and groundwater; storage of water in soil, lakes and streams, and groundwater; polar and glacial ice; and use of water in vegetation and human activities. Illustration of the water cycle showing the ocean, land, mountains, and rivers returning to the ocean. Processes labeled include: precipitation, condensation, evaporation, evaportranspiration (from tree into atmosphere), radiative exchange, surface runoff, ground water and stream flow, infiltration, percolation and soil moisture.

The hydrologic cycle describes the pilgrimage of water as water molecules make their way from the Earth's surface to the atmosphere, and back again. This gigantic system, powered by energy from the sun, is a continuous exchange of moisture between the oceans, the atmosphere, and the land. Credit: NASA GSFC Water and Energy Cycle web site. This diagram show the relationship between Physical Oceanography, Biological Oceanography, and Water Cycle. Feedbacks between Physical Oceanography and Water Cycle are Evaporation minus Precipitation and Fresh water transports (i.e. Goldsborough Circulation). Biological in the ocean is affected by the water cycle via the Mixed Layer Depth and Run off from land. Finally, feedback between Physical and Biological Oceanography include the sea-ice and haline enivironments.

Evaporation ("E") controls the loss of fresh water and precipitation ("P") governs most of the gain of fresh water. Scientists monitor the relationship between these two primary processes in the oceans. Inputs from rivers and melting ice can also contribute to fresh water gains. Evaporation minus precipitation is usually referred to as the net flux of fresh water or the total fresh water in or out of the oceans. E-P determines surface salinity of the ocean, which helps determine the stability of the water column. Salinity and temperature determine the density of ocean water, and density influences the circulation. E-P determines surface salinity of the ocean, which helps determine the stability of the water column. Precipitation also affects the height of the ocean surface indirectly via salinity and density.

The ocean surface is constantly being stirred up by wind and changes in density or buoyancy. The ocean naturally has different physical characteristics with depth. As depth increases, temperature decreases because the sun only heats surface waters. Warm water is lighter or more buoyant than cold water, so the warm surface water stays near the surface. However, surface water is also subject to evaporation. When seawater evaporates, water is removed, salt remains, and relatively salty water is left behind. This relatively salty water can float at the surface; for example, in the tropics it floats because is it so warm and buoyant.

At the surface of the ocean, mixing by the wind can change the density to the point where the temperature and salinity are constant throughout the mixed layer. The depth of the mixed layer is called the mixed layer depth. Phytoplankton in the ocean can impact this mixed layer depth by absorbing the sun's heat at the surface thus decreasing the amount of sunlight that reaches deeper water. In effect, the phytoplankton causes the heating to be confined to a thin layer near the surface and reduces the thickness of the mixed layer.

At higher latitudes, sea water tends to be salty because of poleward transport of tropical water and to a lesser extent, sea ice formation. When sea ice forms, the salt is not crystallized in the ice, leaving the remaining waters relatively salty. Also, near the poles, the seawater is cold and dense. The interaction between water temperature and salinity effects density and density determines thermohaline circulation, or the global conveyor belt. The global conveyor belt is a global-scale circulation process that occurs over a century-long time scale. Water sinks in the North Atlantic, traveling south around Africa, rising in the Indian Ocean or further on in the Pacific, then returning toward the Atlantic on the surface only to sink again in the North Atlantic starting the cycle again.

Generalized model of the thermohaline circulation: 'Global Conveyor Belt' This illustration shows cold deep high salinity currents circulating from the north Atlantic Ocean to the southern Atlantic Ocean and east to the Indian Ocean. Deep water returns to the surface in the Indian and Pacific Oceans through the process of upwelling. The warm shallow current then returns west past the Indian Ocean, round South Africa and up to the North Atlantic where the water becomes saltier and colder and sinks starting the process all over again.

NASA & The Water Cycle

Water is an integral part of life on this planet, and NASA plays a major role at the forefront of water cycle research. Currently, there are many NASA missions that are simultaneously measuring a myriad of Earth's water cycle variables; Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation, Groundwater Flow, Ice Accumulation and Runoff. NASA's water cycle research missions can be grouped into 3 major categories; Water Cycle, Energy Cycle, and Water and Energy Cycle Missions. By studying each and every variable of Earth's water and energy cycles, "As Only NASA Can", a crucial understanding of the water cycle's effect on global climate is currently underway.

NASA's goal is to improve/nurture the following global measurements: precipitation (P), evaporation (E), P-E and the land hydrologic state, such as soil-water, freeze/thaw and snow. Through NASA's water cycle research, we can understand how water moves through the Earth system in the hydrological cycle and we will be in a better position to effectively manage this vital renewable resource and help match the natural supply of water with human demands. NASA is the only national agency that has the ability to support a full range of water cycle research, from large-scale remote sensing to in-situ field observations, data acquisition and analysis, and prediction system development.

As water travels through the water cycle, some water will become part of The Global Conveyer Belt and can take up to 1,000 years to complete this global circuit. It represents in a simple way how ocean currents carry warm surface waters from the equator toward the poles and moderate global climate.

More NASA Missions and Instruments planned to help better understand the workings of the water cycle. Within the next decade, an experimental global water and energy cycle observation system combining environmental satellites and potential new exploratory missions - i.e. advanced remote sensing systems for solid precipitation, soil moisture, and ground water storage - may be feasible. These proposed new approaches are tantalizing, for knowledge of global fresh water availability under the effects of climate change is of increasing importance as the human population grows. Space measurements provide the only means of systematically observing the full Earth while maintaining the measurement accuracies needed to assess global variability.

Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) is a key tracer for understanding the fresh water cycle in the ocean. This is because whereas some parts of the water cycle increase salinity, other parts decrease it. Global SSS patterns are governed by geographic differences in the "water budget." Like on continents, some latitudes of the ocean are "rainy" whereas others are arid and "desert-like." In general, latitude zones dominated by precipitation have low SSS and those dominated by high evaporation have high SSS. The lowest SSS occurs in temperate latitudes (40 - 50 degrees North and South), near coasts and in equatorial regions and the highest SSS occurs at about 25 - 30 degrees North and South latitude, at ocean centers and in enclosed seas.

To track changes in SSS patterns over time, scientists monitor the relationship between evaporation and precipitation in the oceans. After the launch of Aquarius in 2008, scientists will be able to produce accurate maps of global (E - P). Thus, for the first time we will observe how the ocean responds to variability in the water cycle, from season-to-season and year-to-year.

NASA's Aqua mission contributions to monitoring water in the Earth's environment will involve all six of Aqua's instruments: the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), the Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB), the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES). The AIRS/AMSU/HSB combination will provide more-accurate space-based measurements of atmospheric temperature and water vapor than have ever been obtained before, with the highest vertical resolution to date as well. Since water vapor is the Earth's primary greenhouse gas and contributes significantly to uncertainties in projections of future global warming, it is critical to understand how it varies in the Earth system.

Frozen water in the oceans, in the form of sea ice, will be examined with both AMSR-E and MODIS data, the former allowing routine monitoring of sea ice at a coarse resolution and the latter providing greater spatial resolution but only under cloud-free conditions. Sea ice can insulate the underlying liquid water against heat loss to the often frigid overlying polar atmosphere and also reflects sunlight that would otherwise be available to warm the ocean. AMSR-E measurements will allow the routine derivation of sea ice concentrations in both polar regions, through taking advantage of the marked contrast in microwave emissions of sea ice and liquid water. This will continue, with improved resolution and accuracy, a 22-year satellite record of changes in the extent of polar ice. MODIS, with its finer resolution, will permit the identification of individual ice floes, when unobscured by clouds.

When we talk about how Earth and the other planets travel around the Sun, we say they orbit the Sun. Likewise, the moon orbits Earth. Many artificial satellites also orbit Earth.

Satellites can orbit Earth's equator or go over Earth's North and South Poles . . . or anything in between. They orbit at a low altitude of just a few hundred miles above Earth's surface or thousands of miles out in space.

When it comes to satellites, space engineers have different types of orbits to choose from. The choice of orbit all depends on the satellite's job!

The two GOES* weather satellites, for example, have the job of keeping an eye on the weather over North America. They need to "never take their eyes off" any developing situation, such as tropical storms brewing in the Atlantic Ocean, or storm fronts moving across the Pacific Ocean toward the west coast of the U.S. Therefore, they are "parked" in what is called a geostationary (gee-oh-STAY-shun-air-ee) orbit. They orbit exactly over Earth's equator and make one orbit per day. Thus, since Earth rotates once on its axis per day, the GOES satellite seems to hover over the same spot on Earth all the time.*GOES stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite.

In the animation to the right, we are looking down at the North Pole. Of course, this cartoon is not to scale! If Rusty were standing someplace on the equator and could see a geostationary satellite overhead (which would be pretty hard, since it would be 22,300 miles away!), the satellite would seem to be suspended above him all the time.

On the other hand, satellites whose job is to make maps or study all different parts of Earth's surface need an orbit that comes as close to passing over the North and South Poles as possible. This way, Earth turns under the satellite's orbit and Earth does most of the work of traveling! Also, the satellite should be close to Earth's surface (a few hundred miles up) to get a good view with its imaging and measuring instruments.

The lower the satellite's orbit, the less time it takes to make one trip around Earth, and the faster it must go. That's why a geostationary orbit must be so high. It has to go out far enough so that it can travel slowly enough to go around Earth only once per day.

In this cartoon, the satellite passes nearly directly over the North and South Poles. In our animation, it goes around twice in one day. In reality, the satellite may orbit Earth once every hour-and-a-half or so, going around many times per day. An example of satellites in polar orbit are the three POES* satellites. Putting the images from the three satellites together, it takes only six hours to get pictures of just about every square inch of Earth. This information is used to help scientists understand weather, climate, oceans, volcanos, and vegetation patterns around the world. In addition, the information helps in search and rescue and in spotting forest fires.

*POES stands for Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites.

Suppose two satellites are to be launched to the same altitude. However, one is to go into a polar orbit and one is to orbit the equator. Can you guess which satellite will take the most fuel to reach its orbit?

If you guessed the polar orbiting satellite, you are right.

At the equator, Earth itself is rotating from west to east at 1675 kilometers per hour (1041 miles per hour)! If the satellite is launched in the same direction as Earth is rotating, it gets quite a boost. If it is launched toward the north or south, it doesn't get to take advantage of this boost. Or, if the satellite is launched toward the east, it takes a lot of fuel in the spacecraft's thrusters to change the inclination, or tilt, of its orbit. A polar orbit has a high inclination.

Hurricanes are the most awesome, violent storms on Earth. People call these storms by other names, such as typhoons or cyclones, depending on where they occur. The scientific term for all these storms is tropical cyclone. Only tropical cyclones that form over the Atlantic Ocean or eastern Pacific Ocean are called "hurricanes."

Whatever they are called, tropical cyclones all form the same way.

Tropical cyclones are like giant engines that use warm, moist air as fuel. That is why they form only over warm ocean waters near the equator. The warm, moist air over the ocean rises upward from near the surface. Because this air moves up and away from the surface, there is less air left near the surface. Another way to say the same thing is that the warm air rises, causing an area of lower air pressure below.

A cumulonimbus cloud. A tropical cyclone has so many of these, they form huge, circular bands.

Air from surrounding areas with higher air pressure pushes in to the low pressure area. Then that "new" air becomes warm and moist and rises, too. As the warm air continues to rise, the surrounding air swirls in to take its place. As the warmed, moist air rises and cools off, the water in the air forms clouds. The whole system of clouds and wind spins and grows, fed by the ocean's heat and water evaporating from the surface.

Storms that form north of the equator spin counterclockwise. Storms south of the equator spin clockwise. This difference is because of Earth's rotation on its axis.

As the storm system rotates faster and faster, an eye forms in the center. It is very calm and clear in the eye, with very low air pressure. Higher pressure air from above flows down into the eye.

If you could slice into a tropical cyclone, it would look something like this. The small red arrows show warm, moist air rising from the ocean's surface, and forming clouds in bands around the eye. The blue arrows show how cool, dry air sinks in the eye and between the bands of clouds. The large red arrows show the rotation of the rising bands of clouds.

When the winds in the rotating storm reach 39 mph, the storm is called a "tropical storm." And when the wind speeds reach 74 mph, the storm is officially a "tropical cyclone," or hurricane.

Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land, because they are no longer being "fed" by the energy from the warm ocean waters. However, they often move far inland, dumping many inches of rain and causing lots of wind damage before they die out completely.

Tropical cyclone categories:

The two GOES satellites keep their eyes on hurricanes from far above Earth's surface—22,300 miles above, to be exact! (Learn more about this kind of orbit.)

These satellites, built by NASA and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), save lives by helping weather forecasters predict and warn people where and when these severe storms will hit land.

Viewed from space, one of the most striking features of our home planet is the water, in both liquid and frozen forms, that covers approximately 75% of the Earth’s surface. Geologic evidence suggests that large amounts of water have likely flowed on Earth for the past 3.8 billion years—most of its existence. Believed to have initially arrived on the surface through the emissions of ancient volcanoes, water is a vital substance that sets the Earth apart from the rest of the planets in our solar system. In particular, water appears to be a necessary ingredient for the development and nourishment of life.

Earth is a water planet: three-quarters of the surface is covered by water, and water-rich clouds fill the sky. (NASA.)

Water, Water, Everywhere

Water is practically everywhere on Earth. Moreover, it is the only known substance that can naturally exist as a gas, a liquid, and solid within the relatively small range of air temperatures and pressures found at the Earth’s surface.

Water is the only common substance that can exist naturally as a gas, liquid, or solid at the relatively small range of temperatures and pressures found on the Earth’s surface. Sometimes, all three states are even present in the same time and place, such as this wintertime eruption of a geyser in Yellowstone National Park. (Photograph ©2008 haglundc.)

In all, the Earth’s water content is about 1.39 billion cubic kilometers (331 million cubic miles), with the bulk of it, about 96.5%, being in the global oceans. As for the rest, approximately 1.7% is stored in the polar icecaps, glaciers, and permanent snow, and another 1.7% is stored in groundwater, lakes, rivers, streams, and soil. Only a thousandth of 1% of the water on Earth exists as water vapor in the atmosphere.

Despite its small amount, this water vapor has a huge influence on the planet. Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas, and it is a major driver of the Earth’s weather and climate as it travels around the globe, transporting latent heat with it. Latent heat is heat obtained by water molecules as they transition from liquid or solid to vapor; the heat is released when the molecules condense from vapor back to liquid or solid form, creating cloud droplets and various forms of precipitation.

Water vapor—and with it energy—is carried around the globe by weather systems. This satellite image shows the distribution of water vapor over Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. White areas have high concentrations of water vapor, while dark regions are relatively dry. The brightest white areas are towering thunderclouds. The image was acquired on the morning of September 2, 2010 by SEVIRI aboard METEOSAT-9. [Watch this animation (23 MB QuickTime) of similar data to see the movement of water vapor over time.] (Image ©2010 EUMETSAT.)

For human needs, the amount of freshwater on Earth—for drinking and agriculture—is particularly important. Freshwater exists in lakes, rivers, groundwater, and frozen as snow and ice. Estimates of groundwater are particularly difficult to make, and they vary widely. (The value in the above table is near the high end of the range.)

Groundwater may constitute anywhere from approximately 22 to 30% of fresh water, with ice (including ice caps, glaciers, permanent snow, ground ice, and permafrost) accounting for most of the remaining 78 to 70%.