| A | B |
|---|
| Hydrosphere | the sum of all water on a planet |
| Hydrologic cycle | The process by which water is continuously exchanged between earth's various water sources |
| Transpiration | evaporation of water from plants |
| Condensation | The process by which a gas turns into a liquid |
| Precipitation | Water falling from the atmosphere as rain, snow, sleet, or hail |
| Distillation | Evaporation and condensation of a misture to separate out the mixture's individual components |
| Residence time | The average time a given particle will stay in a given system |
| Salinity | A measure of the mass of dissolved salt in a given mass of water |
| Firn | A dense, icy pack of old snow |
| Water table | The line between the water-saturated soil and the soil that is not saturated with water |
| Percolation | The process by which water moves downward in the soil, toward the water table |
| Adiabatic cooling | The cooling of a gas that happens when the gas expands with no way of getting more energy; This accounts for most cloud formation |
| Cloud condensation nuclei | Small airborne particles upon which water vapor condenses to form clouds |
| Glaciers and Icebergs | What is the largest source of freshwater on the earth? |
| Groundwater | What is the largest source of liquid freshwater? |
| Evaporation and Transpiration | By what means does water enter the atmosphere? |
