Water Vapor Circulation on Earth

Water vapor -- the gaseous phase of water -- plays an important role in the water cycle and in regulating Earth's energy distribution. As oceans evaporate and plants transpire, liquid water from Earth's surface enters into the atmosphere as water vapor. When air cools, clouds form through water vapor condensation (forming liquid drops) or deposition (forming ice crystals); and clouds produce precipitation that returns liquid water back to Earth's surface. Water vapor is a critical component of Earth's atmosphere and, though it is invisible, it can be studied through the use of imaging that is sensitive to infrared wavelengths of about 6.5 to 7.4 micrometers in the electromagnetic spectrum. By assigning false colors to represent the infrared data, researchers are able to "see" water vapor in the atmosphere. In this simulation, water vapor is shown as white and precipitation is shown as orange.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Vapor
• Science
• Water
• Earth

[michaelispan]

this wuold make a nice screensaver

[soulscanner66]

The South America phenomenon is the result of diurnal (or daily) heating. The sun heats the land in the morning and early afternoon, evaporates water from the rainforest. By the afternoon, thunderstorms form. Precipitation in the form of torrential downpours deplete the atmosphere of moisture and the water vapor decreases overnight.

[mphello]

No way could a conservative or anti-socialist or anthropogenic global warming (AGW) denier (they're all the same) EVER have done the incredible hard detailed work of such an amazing educational beautiful animation such as this one.

[Knossos22]

Reminds me of Jupiter time laps of Jupiter from Voyager - many of the same forces at work...

[wwwmw100]

Katrina was early July and Wilma was August. Of 2005

[appelezmoijoe]

Much more rain in oceans than on land. Very nice, thanks.

[elasetti]

beautiful

[sexyhotlowrider]

it sucks

[martinezelfacha]

you help me to oceanography, thanks!!

[johnkennedywastaken]

Which year is this for?

[shadowwarriorwithin]

wow where did they get this info.