Answer:
In summary, the water cycle operates at both a local and global scale, moving water from the Earth's surface to the atmosphere and back, connecting all the world's water bodies and playing a crucial role in the Earth's climate system.
Step-by-step explanation:
The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle, operates at both a local and global scale, transporting water from the Earth's surface to the atmosphere and back.
At a local scale, the water cycle refers to the movement of water in a specific region or watershed. Precipitation, such as rain or snow, falls on the Earth's surface and either runs off into streams, rivers, or oceans or infiltrates into the ground, replenishing groundwater reserves. Some of the water that infiltrates the ground becomes part of the local water cycle, where it is taken up by plants or flows into streams and rivers.
At a global scale, the water cycle refers to the movement of water on a much larger scale, connecting all the world's oceans, rivers, and groundwater reserves. Water evaporates from the oceans and other bodies of water, rises into the atmosphere, cools, and condenses into clouds. The clouds eventually release the water as precipitation, which falls back to the Earth's surface and replenishes local water cycles.