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💧 Water Cycle Residence-Time Lab

A 3D stock-and-flow model of the water cycle: watch molecules evaporate from the ocean, condense into saturating clouds, rain out, and either run off or infiltrate into groundwater — with live residence-time statistics for every reservoir.

Hydrology3DAdvanced60 FPS

A 3D stock-and-flow model of the water cycle: water molecules evaporate from the ocean at a rate set by the Clausius-Clapeyron relation, condense into clouds that fill toward a saturation threshold, rain out, then either run off across the land or infiltrate into groundwater before slowly re-emerging.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Residence time τ = stock ÷ flux for each reservoir. Watch how a hotter ocean raises the evaporation flux and shortens the atmosphere's turnover, while a higher saturation threshold lets clouds hold more water before precipitating.

🎮 How to Use

Adjust sea-surface temperature, wind speed, cloud saturation threshold, and soil infiltration fraction. Watch the live reservoir stocks and the computed atmosphere residence time respond in real time.

💡 Did You Know?

Earth's real atmosphere holds only about 12,900 km³ of water yet cycles roughly 505,000 km³ through it every year — an average residence time of just 9 days, versus millennia for the deep ocean.

⚙ Under the hood

water cyclesimulationreservoirflow modelevaporationcondensationrainfallThree.js

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install