Figure 8. The global water cycle. This schematic representation
shows the evaporation of water from the oceans and land surface, its transport
within the atmosphere, its condensation to form clouds and its return to
earth as precipitation (rain and snow) both over the oceans and over land
where it may either run off to the ocean in rivers or percolate into the
ground and eventually reach the ocean as groundwater flow. The fluxes are
shown in units of 1012 m³ / year and the storages in units of 1012 m³.
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