We all learned about the water cycle as kids, but as is the case with most things, it's changed over time. Today we're revisiting this conversation from 2022, when Tawana Andrew explained what was new.
Bill Burton: It's time for us to take a look at the Science Behind the Forecast as I am joined by WAVE 3 meteorologist Tawana Andrew. Good morning, Tawana.
Tawana Andrew: Good morning. We're talking about something that's pretty simple, but also pretty complicated this morning.
BB: Yeah, we're talking about water today, and some changes, well, not changes with water itself, that's pretty basic, but some changes to things we learned as kids. So what are we talking about today? What do we need to know?
TA: Well, overall, the water cycle is super important to how weather happens around our planet, and we learned about this in elementary school. Remember singing the songs about evaporation, condensation, precipitation, all that fun stuff. But of course, there's way more to it. For example, evapotranspiration, how plants push some moisture into the atmosphere, and how that contributes to condensation and precipitation along the lines.
So overall, for the past several decades, the USGS, the U.S. Geological Survey, has been putting out this one form, this beautiful imagery of the water cycle, and it's been amazing for teachers and students to learn about our plan a little bit more. But [in 2022], they updated a more comprehensive and precise version of the water cycle that's now available for educators or just anybody who wants to learn about it, that they all have access to it.
The updated water cycle diagram kind of shows a little bit more about how we as humans play a role in water distribution across our planet, things like how asphalt and concrete contribute to more runoff into our rivers and into our lakes and seas. How humans use water in industry and in agriculture, and how some of that agriculture can contribute, in some cases, to even drought or rivers drying up in some spots, or even adding to the precipitation in others, or even how impact of human made reservoirs can contribute to the water cycle and adding more water in places that it wasn't before. And so it's just very great illustration about how interconnected also some of our ecosystems are across watersheds and continents, and it is very comprehensive.
I spent an incredible amount of time just staring at it and nerding out. But I think everyone at this point knows how come I'm a complete nerd. But despite everything they've added to it, some experts have been looking at it, and it does lack some more human-related parts of the water cycle. A couple of things that they could have added, according to some of these experts, is how the parts of the water cycle is accelerated due to a warming climate. For example, if we have warmer temperatures that allows for more evaporation, the atmosphere to hold more water, and that means more precipitation in places that we typically don't see it. Or how, let's say there's increased urban flooding in some situations, because we have more of those, what are called impervious surfaces in certain locations. So how that contributes to flooding and runoff. Or even how additional aerosols in the atmosphere can change where and when clouds form and how much precipitation we see.
While those extra things aren't included, they're quite important, because it just illustrates the fact of how we as humans affect our planet and affect the water cycle, but overall, I think it's just a really good way to allow students and just anyone who wants to learn more about our planet, to learn more about our planet. And don't worry, I'll be posting it so everyone can see and nerd out as well. But yeah, water, it may be simple, but it's super complicated and still very important to the way we live our lives,
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
