IMPORTANT PHASES OF

THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

PREPARED BY:
GROUP 3, BS CE-4C
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
EVAPORATION

TRANSPIRATION

INTERCEPTION

DEPRESSION STORAGE
EVAPORATION: DEFINITION
• It is the process by which water changes from a liquid
to a gas or vapor.
• It is the primary pathway that water moves from the
liquid state back into the water cycle as atmospheric
water vapor.
• In hydrology, it is vaporization that takes place at a
temperature below the boiling point.
• Studies have shown that the oceans, seas, lakes, and
rivers provide nearly 90 percent of the moisture in
the atmosphere via evaporation, with the remaining
10 percent being contributed by plant transpiration.
EVAPORATION: ROLE IN THE CYCLE
• It affects humidity and influence the moisture
amounts in the air. Regions with high
temperatures and large water bodies are
humid due to water evaporating and
remaining in the air as vapour.
• It also helps in cloud formation. afterwards the
clouds release the moisture as precipitation. It
drives the water cycle.
EVAPORATION: FACTORS AFFECTING
• Clogged or polluted air hinders the amount of air required to cause evaporation.
• Humidity is 100 percent, and the air is saturated with water.
• High air pressure is on the surface of a water body. This air pressure pushes down on the
water, hindering its escape into the atmosphere as vapour i.e. storms (Source: National
Geographic).
• Temperature levels affect how fast evaporation occurs, as boiling water evaporates faster as
steam than warm water. It has more Kinetic Energy.
• Intermolecular forces, the stronger the bonds the harder to disintegrate, thus evaporate.
• Surface Area, the larger, the faster the evaporation, as there are more surface molecules per
unit of volume that are potentially able to escape.
EVAPORATION: UTILIZATION
• It is utilized in livelihoods, such of table salt
production.
• The Dead Sea (Middle East) which has no
river outlet relies on evaporation for water to
leave this lake. It also aids in magnesium,
potash and bromine minerals extraction.
• According to the U.S. Geological Survey,
around 80 percent of all water evaporation
comes from the oceans and the rest from
inland water and vegetation.
EVAPORATION: VIDEO PRESENTATION
TRANSPIRATION: DEFINITION
• It is essentially evaporation of water from plant leaves.
It is the process by which moisture is carried through
plants from roots to small pores on the underside of
leaves, where it changes to vapour and is released to
the atmosphere.
• It includes a process called guttation, which is the loss
of water in liquid form from the uninjured leaf or stem
of the plant, principally through water stomata.
• Studies have revealed that about 10 percent of the
moisture found in the atmosphere is released by
plants through transpiration.
TRANSPIRATION: ROLE IN THE CYCLE
• Because of this, plants became active players
in the water cycle because they absorb
ground water with their stems and return it
to the environment through their leaves.
• When water returns to the atmosphere by
evaporation, plants via transpiration add
much-needed moisture to environments
experiencing dry periods.
TRASNPIRATION: FACTORS AFFECTING
• Temperature, transpiration rates go up as the temperature goes up. Higher temperatures cause the
plant cells which control the openings (stoma) where water is released to the atmosphere to open,
whereas colder temperatures cause the openings to close.
• Relative humidity, relative humidity of the air surrounding the plant rises the transpiration rate falls. It
is easier for water to evaporate into dryer air than into more saturated air.
• Wind and air movement, increased movement of the air around a plant will result in a higher
transpiration rate. This is somewhat related to the relative humidity of the air, in that as water transpires
from a leaf, the water saturates the air surrounding the leaf. If there is no wind, the air around the leaf
may not move very much, raising the humidity of the air around the leaf. Wind will move the air
around, with the result that the more saturated air close to the leaf is replaced by drier air.
• Soil-moisture availability, when moisture is lacking, plants can begin to senesce (premature ageing,
which can result in leaf loss) and transpire less water.
• Type of plant, plants transpire water at different rates. Some plants which grow in arid regions, such as
cacti and succulents, conserve precious water by transpiring less water than other plants.
TRANSPIRATION: UTILIZATION
• Because it occurs through the
stomatal apertures, and can be
thought of as a necessary "cost"
associated with the opening of the
stomata to allow the diffusion of
carbon dioxide gas from the air for
photosynthesis.
• It cools plants, changes osmotic
pressure of cells, and enables mass
flow of mineral nutrients and water
from roots to shoots.
TRANSPIRATION:
VIDEO PRESENTATION
INTERCEPTION: DEFINITION
• The process and the amount of rain or snow stored on leaves
and branches and eventually evaporated back to the air.
• It equals the precipitation on the vegetation minus stem flow
(rainfall or snowmelt led to the ground down the trunks or
stems of plants.) and throughfall (the precipitation that falls
directly to the ground or the rainwater or snowmelt that drops
from twigs or leaves.)
• It refers to precipitation that does not reach the soil, but is
instead intercepted by the leaves, branches of plants and the
forest floor.
• It occurs in the canopy (i.e. canopy interception), and in the
forest floor or litter layer (i.e. forest floor interception).
INTERCEPTION: ROLE IN THE CYCLE
• The most important role is as a rainfall reducer,
causing a significant amount of rainfall to be
directly fed back to the atmosphere which is not
available for infiltration.
• It influences the spatial distribution of infiltration.
This has large influences on the soil moisture
pattern and on subsurface flow paths.
• It redistributes the water flows in time. Due to the
filling of the spatial variable storage capacity
and rainfall, the delay time is not homogeneous in
space.
INTERCEPTION: FACTORS AFFECTING
• Type of vegetation, it varies with the species, its age and density of stands.
• Wind velocity, if the wind accompanies the precipitation the leaves become
incapable of holding much water as compared with the still air condition.
• Duration of storm, interception storage is filled up in the first part of a rain storm.
• Intensity of storm, when precipitation occurs in still air conditions with low intensity
interception will be more.
• Season of the year, during summer or dry season the interception rate is quite high
because of high evaporation.
• Climate of the area, in arid and semiarid regions due to prevailing dry conditions the
interception loss is more than that occurring in humid regions.
 INTERCEPTION: UTILIZATION
• It may reduce erosion or increase it
depending on the throughfall effects.
• Hydrologic models can be made through
estimates of loss to gross precipitation due to
interception significantly in annual or long-
term models.
INTERCEPTION: VIDEO PRESENTATION
DEPRESSION STORAGE: DEFINITION
• Water retained in puddles, ditches, and
other depressions in the surface of the
ground.
• The quantity of storm water that is lost as
a result of minor surface depressions in
the ground.
• When water temporarily accumulates in a
low point with no possibility for escape as
runoff.
• The volume, in inches (mm), that must be
filled prior to the occurrence of run off.
DEPRESSION STORAGE: DEFINITION
• vis-à-vis Detention Storage
When the precipitation occurs
for a longer duration and at a
rate greater than the rate of
infiltration some water is
collected on the surface of the
earth up to a certain depth.
Attaining that depth, gravity
makes this water flow, but
before it starts flowing, the
water stored on the surface of
earth is called detention storage.
DEPRESSION STORAGE:
ROLE IN THE CYCLE
• It allows the water to be stored thus be
evaporated or be infiltrated.

 Impervious Depression Storage -water

stored as depression storage on
impervious areas is depleted by
evaporation.
 Pervious Depression Storage - water
stored as depression storage is subject
to both infiltration and evaporation.
DEPRESSION STORAGE:
FACTORS AFFECTING
• Landform
• Soil Characteristics
• Topography
• Land Use
• Antecedent rainfall index, a weighted summation of daily precipitation amounts, used
as an index of soil moisture
DEPRESSION STORAGE: UTILIZATION
• It may be treated as a calibration
parameter, particularly to adjust
runoff volumes.
• It is a type of hydrologic abstraction on
the modelling of precipitation-runoff
relationship
• It may be of considerable magnitude
and may play an important role in
hydrologic analysis and flood control.
Stock ponds, terraces, and contour
farming all tend to moderate flood by
increasing depression storage.
DEPRESSION STORAGE:
VIDEO PRESENTATION
 OUR WATER SOURCES:
DAMS, CATCHMENTS, RAINFALL:
 END
SOURCES:
• HTTPS://WWW.NWRFC.NOAA.GOV/INFO/WATER_CYCLE/HYDROLOGY.CGI
• HTTPS://SCIENCING.COM/ROLE-PLANTS-PLAY-WATER-CYCLE-5553487.HTML
• HTTPS://SOCRATIC.ORG/QUESTIONS/WHAT-ROLE-DOES-TRANSPIRATION-PLAY-IN-THE-WATER-CYCLE
• HTTPS://WWW.SLIDESHARE.NET/HANNAHLEEPERDEZ/INTERCEPTION-AND-DEPRESSION-STORAGE
• HTTPS://WWW.RESEARCHGATE.NET/PUBLICATION/45685037_THE_ROLE_OF_INTERCEPTION_IN_THE_HYD
ROLOGICAL_CYCLE
• HTTP://WWW.YOURARTICLELIBRARY.COM/WATER/INTERCEPTION/INTERCEPTION-CONCEPT-AND-FACTORS-
AFFECTING-IT/60454
• HTTPS://WWW.SCRIBD.COM/PRESENTATION/370829927/DEPRESSION-STORAGE