Edit - Earth Science Stack Exchange - 江南体育网页版

You are notlogged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it ispeer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

What is the percentage of the global water cycle (evaporation, precipitation) that occurs over the ocean?

Most of the water cycle studies focus on the processes and changes occurring over land with little emphasis on the ocean. Meanwhile, the ocean covers almost 3/4 of the surface of Earth. How much of the global precipitation and evaporation takes place over the ocean? Is it 75% of the total? If the percentage is higher, why does that occur?

Answer

> 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. [Water Cycle][1] from Global Environmental Change [![enter image description here][2]][2] [1]: https://docsbay.net/water-cycle [2]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/nZpVn.png

Edit Summary

Cancel

Add a comment |

Correct minor typos or mistakes
Clarify meaning without changing it
Add related resources or links
Alwaysrespect the author’s intent
Don’t use edits to reply to the author

create code fences with backticks ` or tildes ~
```
like so
```
add language identifier to highlight code
```python
deffunction(foo):
print(foo)
```
put returns between paragraphs
for linebreak add 2 spaces at end
_italic_or**bold**
quote by placing > at start of line
to make links (use https whenever possible)

[example](https://example.com)
example
MathJax equations $\sin^2 \theta$

formatting help »
answering help »

MathJax help »