Water Cycle Cross-Section (2D)

Atmosphere

Temperature 22 °C

Relative humidity 55%

Ground Type

Cycle Readouts

Saturation vapor pressure e_s(T)

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Evaporation rate

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Cloud saturation

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Runoff share

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Infiltration share

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Groundwater level

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How it works

Sunlight warms the ocean surface and drives evaporation: water molecules escape into the air as vapor. How much can evaporate depends on temperature (warmer air holds more moisture) and how far the air already is from saturation (higher humidity leaves less "room" for more vapor). That balance is the real Tetens saturation-vapor-pressure formula used in meteorology:

e_s(T) = 6.1094 · exp(17.625·T / (T+243.04))  [hPa]
Evaporation rate ∝ e_s(T) · (1 − RH/100)

Rising vapor cools and gathers into clouds; how fast that vapor actually condenses into visible droplets scales with humidity too — dry air disperses moisture before it can condense, humid air condenses it readily. Once accumulated cloud water crosses a precipitation threshold, it falls as rain.

Rain that lands on the mountain slope splits between runoff — flowing downhill into the river and back to the ocean — and infiltration — soaking into the ground to recharge the groundwater table, which itself slowly seeps back out as river baseflow. The Ground Type buttons change how much of each rainfall event soaks in versus runs off.

Temperature / humidity sliders — set the atmospheric conditions driving evaporation and condensation.
Preset buttons — jump to typical desert, temperate, or tropical conditions.
Ground Type — rocky terrain sheds most rain as runoff; sandy terrain lets more infiltrate to groundwater.

Sunlight Evaporation (vapor) Cloud / precipitation Runoff (river) Groundwater