Tisa River Basin Hydrologic Data Collection Program

Diagram of the water cycle.

By John M. Evans USGS, Colorado District
Note: You should use landscape formatting when printing this page.

The water cycle, also called the hydrologic cycle, is the cycle by which water continuously circulates from the Earth to the atmosphere and back to the Earth.  Many processes, including evaporation, condensation, transpiration, precipitation, and runoff, are involved in the hydrologic cycle.