Hydrology – Life is believed to have originated in the aqueous solutions of the world’s oceans and living organisms depend on aqueous solutions, such as blood and digestive juices, for biological processes. Water also exists on planets and moons, both within and outside the solar system.
Water is known to have three completely different primary states on Earth, namely gas, solid, and liquid. Even though they have different forms, basically they come from the same unit. The form of water can change according to the ambient temperature. The water that exists on our earth flows in liquid form in rivers and oceans as solid as ice at the North and South poles and as a gas (steam) in the atmosphere.
Water is also located behind the ground and in the plants and animals. Every living thing requires water in one form or another to survive on Earth. Humans may be able to live hungry for several weeks without anything to eat, but humans can only live for a few days without water.
Water is one of the basic needs for every element of life on earth and plays a very big role for all living things. Not only does it play a big role for humans, but also for animals, and even for forests which contain various kinds of trees and plants that also need water for survival such as drinking, carrying out photosynthesis and many other interests.
The human body itself is 50 to 70% water, without exception also including the skin, cells in the body and all other important organs. So, it is impossible for a human being to stay alive if he is dehydrated or what we call thirst. Water, which plays a major role as the source of life for every living thing on earth, is always changing.
In fact, to become water itself, it must go through various long stages and other processes until it finally returns to its original form. The branch of science that deals with water is better known as hydrology.
Then, what exactly is meant by the notion of hydrology and what are the types and benefits? You can find the answer in this article. So, watch this review till the end, Readers.
Definition of Hydrology
Understanding Hydrology is a branch of geography that studies the cycle of water movement, from the beginning it evaporates on the surface of the earth until it returns to become water which will evaporate.
Understanding Hydrology is a branch of science whose main focus is studying the existence and movement of water on earth. In this case, including the movement, distribution and quality of water. This science is a branch of geography and has been studied since the 15th century AD.
According to the general understanding of hydrology, the hydrologic cycle is the science that studies the water cycle in all its phases including evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and distribution of water on the surface, the earth’s surface, absorbing water into the ground, until recycling occurs again.
Next we will try to give a more in-depth explanation of water, or in earth science it is better known as hydrology.
Hydrological Cycle Process
The rotation of the hydrological process can be called the water cycle because the word hydrology itself has the same meaning as water, the difference is only in the vocabulary. The water cycle itself means a rotation process that takes place in the aquatic environment.
So, the hydrologic cycle is a process where water goes from the gas layer in the sky to the earth, then water returns to the gas layer in the sky and so on. The water cycle itself means one of the biogeochemical cycles that occur on earth in an effort to maintain the quantity and stock of water.
Another different meaning, if interpreted linguistically, hydrology is the science of water which comes from Greek. So, hydrology literally can be understood as a branch of geography that studies various matters related to water.
Series or Stages of Hydrological Cycle Process
In general, the process of the hydrologic cycle is when all the water on the earth’s surface evaporates. Any water that evaporates into the atmosphere or into space will then turn into clouds in the sky. After that, the water that has turned into a cloud will change into another form, namely water droplets.
These water droplets will then fall to earth as rain or in the form of ice which we call snow. After rain, water will enter the pores or openings in the soil with horizontal and vertical movement directions. The water will then return to become surface runoff which will continue to flow until it returns to rivers or lakes.
1. Evaporation or Evaporation of All Water
Evaporation is the first stage in the hydrologic cycle where evaporation occurs in water from rivers and the like. At that time, rivers, lakes, seas and other places were considered water objects, and water that evaporated would become gas.
The water in all water bodies then evaporates because of the sun’s heat and the evaporation process is also called the evaporation stage of water molecules. Evaporation or more clearly the evaporation of water molecules is the process of turning liquid molecules into gaseous molecules and then water into vapor.
Evaporation that occurs itself will then cause the effect of evaporating water that has been converted into gas in the atmosphere. Sunlight is the main intermediary in the evaporation step, so the hotter the light emitted, the higher the water molecules in the air.
2. Evaporation or Evaporation of Water Molecules in Living Tissues
Transpiration is an evaporation process. Although evaporation does not only occur in water, it is contained in water. Moreover, evaporation has a form of transpiration which occurs in the body parts of organisms, especially in animals and plants, and the process is similar to the transpiration phase.
Liquid molecules of animals and plants are then converted into vapor or gaseous molecules. After the liquid molecules have evaporated, they rise into the atmosphere as in the evaporation step.
Then, transpiration occurs in the tissues that exist in animals and plants, although from this stage the amount of water produced is not that great. During sweating, the fluid molecules that evaporate afterwards are not as important in the evaporation process.
3. Evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration is a combination of the stages of transpiration and evaporation, so that more water evaporates at this stage. Evapotranspiration is a stage of evaporation where the liquid molecules that evaporate are all tissues in living things and water. The evapotranspiration stage itself is the stage that most influences the amount of water transported or the hydrological cycle.
4. Sublimation
Apart from the three processes above, it turns out that there is another evaporation process, namely sublimation. Sublimation itself has a meaning similar to the transformation of liquid molecules into gaseous molecules in the upper atmosphere or atmosphere. However, the evaporation that occurs is the transformation of ice in the mountains and at the North Pole, so it does not undergo liquidation.
Subsequent water production is not as high as in the evaporation stage and other stages. Although the sublimation phase still influences the evolution of the hydrologic cycle, it is indispensable. It’s just that what distinguishes the evaporation step and the sublimation step is that this step requires a slower time.
5. Condensation
After going through the previous four stages, the next stage is the condensation stage where the water has evaporated and then turned into ice particles. The ice particles themselves are very small and form due to the cold temperatures at high altitudes in the upper atmosphere.
The ice particles themselves then turn into clouds until the number of ice particles increases, the clouds become darker. Condensing or condensing itself is a process of change that occurs in a denser state, for example in a gas that turns into a liquid. Etymologically, condensate is a term derived from the Latin condensate which means closed. Evaporation itself is an example of a change in matter, that is, a temporary change in a substance.
Examples of changes in size, shape and form. This change then does not become a new substance and the liquid that has condensed from this vapor is then called condensate. Meanwhile, the condenser is a tool used to condense vapor and turn it into liquid.
6. Turbidity or Advection
Turbidity is a stage that does not occur in a short hydrologic cycle but only occurs in a long hydrologic cycle. At this point, what happens is the movement of clouds from one point to another, which are also known as clouds in the sky, spread out.
The movement of the clouds itself is caused by the wind which then moves from the ocean to the land and vice versa. Heat transfer is horizontal or transverse heat transfer. This movement then warms the air around it. Examples of this advection include differences in the ability to absorb and release heat on land and in the sea.
7. Rainfall
The seventh process is high rainfall or called the precipitation process which is the stage where the clouds melt because they cannot withstand the temperature rise. At this stage, one of the natural phenomena known as rain or falling water droplets will occur to the earth’s surface. If the ambient temperature is below 0 degrees Celsius, there will be hail accompanied by snow.
8.Run off
The phase of water movement from upstream to downstream is also called flowing water, at this stage, rainwater will move. Movement occurs from the upper surface to the lower surface with the previous surface through different channels. Channels in question include rivers, culverts, seas, lakes and oceans.
9. Infiltration
Infiltration is a stage of the hydrological cycle. At this stage rainwater is then converted into groundwater. Rainwater that falls to the ground itself does not flow completely like in the runoff phase, but will still flow to the ground. The process of rainwater into the pores of the soil is then called percolation and then returns to the rest of the oceans.
10. Conduction
The conduction process that heats up on touch or direct contact with an object. Heating occurs because the air molecules near the earth’s surface come into contact with the earth which receives direct heat from the sun so that the hot molecules come into contact with air molecules that are not yet warm.
Types of Hydrological Cycle
The hydrologic cycle undergoes various very long processes based on the explanation described above and in total there are up to nine hydrological cycle processes. There is also hydrological engineering, which is the science that explains the circulation, movement and distribution of water both in the atmosphere and on earth.
The rotation of the hydrological process itself is divided into three cycle characteristics including short cycles, medium cycles, and long cycles. Furthermore, we will provide a more detailed explanation below.
1. Short Hydrological Cycle
A short hydrologic cycle will never be created if it is during the movement or advection phase of the cloud. The liquid molecules that have been transformed into vapor will then fall as rain around the sea area, in more detail the short hydrologic cycle then unfolds itself in the form of evaporation or evaporation of sea water due to the sun’s rays that shine to the maximum in the ocean.
In addition, sea water itself will transform into molecular vapors, which will subsequently lead to the processing of ice particles in clouds or condensation. The last phase of the short hydrologic cycle itself is the rain clouds dropping above the sea level, in other words the sea water initially evaporates and will eventually return to the sea.
2. Moderate Hydrological Cycle
The next hydrologic cycle is the intermediate hydrologic cycle, which is somewhat different from the short hydrologic cycle. This one hydrological cycle will then create rain that will fall in the highlands and then the rainwater will return to the center of the water.
The hydrologic cycle in the first stage, consists of the evaporation or collection of water which becomes steam in various collections of water in the center of the water, which are then converted into gas or vapor molecules and will be lifted to the uppermost layers of the atmosphere under the influence of sunlight.
The steam will then move towards the continents due to advection effects. After reaching the earth’s atmosphere, this water vapor will then transform into clouds until the next stage then becomes rain which will fall to the earth.
The next stage itself is that rainwater that falls on land will go through the runoff phase. The rainwater itself then experiences movement through different channels before finally turning back to the sea and repeating itself.
3. Old Hydrological Cycle
The third element of the hydrological cycle is the old hydrological cycle, which generally occurs in upland areas such as hills and mountains. Although it does not only take place in this zone, this longer hydrological cycle also occurs in different subtropical climate zones. The difference between the old hydrologic cycle and other hydrologic cycles is that clouds do not immediately turn into rain.
The first stage of this precise cycle is that seawater evaporates, then settles on top, and then turns back into gaseous molecules and vapor. These changes occur due to the emission of light produced by the sun, until the sublimation of water vapor occurs.
In addition, clouds filled with ice blocks form and pass by advection or movement of clouds to other points. During the advection phase, the frozen clouds will then turn towards the continents and will become various rainfall events. After precipitation, it rains to produce snow instead of water which melts into the ice.
The terrestrial rock/iceberg will then melt under the effects of heat and pressure.
Due to the melting of icebergs, the water that forms flows along rivers to produce river water. In addition, water that starts from snow will then turn into icebergs and form water that flows more and more towards the sea. At this point, all the water that has gone through various stages of the hydrological cycle will return to the sea.
Benefits of the Hydrological Cycle
1. Water Supply
The amount of water participating in the hydrological cycle is 521,000 km3/year. Water is used by all aspects of life including the living things that live in it. Based on calculations, the water needs of all organisms have been sufficiently distributed. But in fact, there are areas that are still feeling the effects of drought and there are areas that have abundant water sources. This is because each region has different quality and quantity of water.
2. Resources of Life
Water is a basic need of living things. Without water, there will be no life. Water is the main constituent of cells and other levels of organisms. In oxidation and biotransformation, water is needed as an electron donor in water photolysis.
Seeds can become buds because of the infiltration process, namely the entry of water into the seed. Reproductive plants need water. Animals and humans need water to drink. Every layer of the lithosphere contains life. In fact, when conditions are arid, there is life, even if it goes slowly. In fact, water is a basic need to sustain living things.
3. Tourist Destinations
Waterfalls, mists, underground rivers, wells, ocean waves, rain, clouds, and rivers are a kind of blood relation in a hydrological system. The environment shaped by hundreds of years of hydrological cycles offers a special and useful perspective for tourism development. Without a hydrological system, this beauty would not be possible.
Conclusion
This is a brief discussion of how a series of events and the meaning of hydrology were formed. Not just the definition, but how the process is created, the types, and the benefits of hydrology. The hydrological process is a natural process carried out by nature and is purely created naturally and we can enjoy its beauty.
Thus a review of the notion of hydrology .