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Water covers about 71% of the Earth's surface, with seas and oceans making up most of the water volume (about 96.5%). [23] Small portions of water occur as groundwater (1.7%), in the glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland (1.7%), and in the air as vapor , clouds (consisting of ice and liquid water suspended in air), and ...
Water can be polluted, abused, and misused but it is neither created nor destroyed, it only migrates. There is no evidence that water vapor escapes into space." [12]: 26 Every year the turnover of water on Earth involves 577,000 km 3 of water. This is water that evaporates from the oceanic surface (502,800 km 3) and from land (74,200 km 3).
Most water in Earth's atmosphere and crust comes from saline seawater, while fresh water accounts for nearly 1% of the total. The vast bulk of the water on Earth is saline or salt water, with an average salinity of 35‰ (or 3.5%, roughly equivalent to 34 grams of salts in 1 kg of seawater), though this varies slightly according to the amount of runoff received from surrounding land.
Water is the most abundant substance on Earth's surface and also the third most abundant molecule in the universe, after H 2 and CO. [23] 0.23 ppm of the earth's mass is water and 97.39% of the global water volume of 1.38 × 10 9 km 3 is found in the oceans. [84]
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its global ocean, covering 70.8% of Earth's crust.
Rain falling over a drainage basin in Scotland.Understanding the cycling of water into, through, and out of catchments is a key element of hydrology. Hydrology (from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr) 'water' and -λογία () 'study of') is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and ...
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Extraterrestrial liquid water – Liquid water naturally occurring outside Earth Water on terrestrial planets of the Solar System. Lunar water – Presence of water on the Moon; Water on Mars – Study of past and present water on Mars; List of extrasolar candidates for liquid water – Possible existence of liquid water beyond Earth ...