Follow a raindrop
Travel from a lake to the sky, then choose a route back through a river or underground. The water cycle has no single starting point.
Follow both the runoff and groundwater routes.
Choose your journey
Sunlight supplies energy. Liquid water becomes invisible water vapor.
Ready when you are. Play or select a step above.
Each step lasts seconds here. In nature, storage and travel times range widely. Vapor is shown as gold markers so you can follow it; real water vapor is invisible.
The science behind the scene
Water moves through many stores and pathways. Evaporation changes liquid water into vapor; condensation forms droplets; precipitation returns water to the surface. Some water runs over land, while some infiltrates soil and becomes groundwater. This journey represents selected routes, not a fixed schedule: real water can stay stored for very different lengths of time.
USGS · Water cycleFollow both the runoff and groundwater routes.
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