Water Cycle & Ocean Currents

Water Cycle and Ocean Currents

Ocean water evaporates, condenses into clouds, falls as rain or snow, and returns through rivers and groundwater. The engine of this water cycle is solar energy. Ocean currents are large flows of seawater: warm currents run from low to high latitude, cold currents the other way, shaping climate and fisheries. Here you can follow the water-cycle path and the directions of warm and cold currents.

The Water Cycle

💧 Water Goes Round and Round

①Seawater evaporates into water vapor

②The vapor condenses into clouds

③Clouds rain or snow down

④Rivers and groundwater bring water back to the sea

Ocean Currents

🌊 Big Flows of Seawater

①Ocean current: large flow in a fixed direction

②Warm current: equator → poles (warm water)

③Cold current: poles → equator (cold water)

④Currents shape climate and fishing grounds

Summary

Water Cycle

Evaporate → Condense (cloud) → Precipitate → Runoff → Evaporate

Driven endlessly by the Sun

Ocean Currents

Warm (low → high lat.) / Cold (high → low lat.)

Wind, temperature gradient, Earth rotation drive them

🎯 Exam Points

①Cycle: evaporate→cloud→precipitate→runoff

②Driver: solar energy

③Warm current: warm, low→high lat.

④Cold current: cold, high→low lat.

⑤Korea: Kuroshio (warm, East Sea), Liman (cold) currents

Examples and Unit Test

Example 1

List in order the steps of the water cycle from the sea back to the sea, and name the energy source that drives this cycle.

Seawater evaporates into water vapor, the vapor condenses into clouds, and rain or snow falls from the clouds.

The fallen water flows back to the sea through rivers and groundwater. The driving force of this whole cycle is solar energy.

▸ Evaporation → condensation (clouds) → precipitation (rain/snow) → runoff → sea / driving force = solar energy

Water keeps circulating by changing state, and the energy for it comes from the Sun.

Example 2

How do a warm current and a cold current differ in flow direction and water temperature, and what do ocean currents affect?

A warm current flows from low latitudes (the equator) toward high latitudes (the poles), and a cold current flows from high latitudes toward low latitudes.

Ocean currents have a large effect, changing the climate of nearby regions and creating rich fishing grounds.

▸ Warm current = low to high latitude (warm), cold current = high to low latitude (cold) / affects climate and fishing grounds

Ocean currents carry warmth and cold, spreading the heat of the Earth more evenly.

Unit Test

Which statement about the water cycle and ocean currents is correct?

①The energy that drives the water cycle comes from heat inside the Earth

②A warm current flows from high latitudes to low latitudes and is cold

③Water circulates by changing state through evaporation and condensation

④Precipitation is the process where water turns into water vapor

⑤Ocean currents have no effect on climate

▸ ③ Water circulates by changing state through evaporation and condensation

The driving force of the water cycle is solar energy (① wrong), and a warm current flows from low to high latitudes and is warm (② wrong).

Precipitation is rain or snow falling from clouds (④ wrong), and ocean currents strongly affect climate and fishing grounds (⑤ wrong); water circulates by changing state through evaporation and condensation (③ correct).

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