-
A hydrosphere is the total amount of water on a planet. The hydrosphere includes water that is on the surface of the planet, underground, and in the air. A planet's hydrosphere can be liquid, vapor, or ice.
On Earth, liquid water exists on the surface in the form of oceans, lakes and rivers. It also exists below ground—as groundwater, in wells and aquifers. Water vapor is most visible as clouds and fog.The frozen part of Earth's hydrosphere is made of ice: glaciers, ice caps and icebergs. The frozen part of the hydrosphere has its own name, the cryosphere.
Water moves through the hydrosphere in a cycle. Water collects in clouds, then falls to Earth in the form of rain or snow. This water collects in rivers, lakes and oceans. Then it evaporates into the atmosphere to start the cycle all over again. This is called the water cycle.
Catch a wave, and you're sitting on top of the hydrosphere.Photograph by Jason Kampf, MyShot
Hydrosphere in Space
Some scientists believe a hydrosphere exists on Europa, a moon of Jupiter, that consists of a frozen outer layer and a giant, liquid ocean underneath it. -
Term Part of Speech Definition Encyclopedic Entry aquifer Noun an underground layer of rock or earth which holds groundwater.
Encyclopedic Entry: aquifer atmosphere Noun layers of gases surrounding a planet or other celestial body.
Encyclopedic Entry: atmosphere cloud Noun visible mass of tiny water droplets or ice crystals in Earth's atmosphere.
Encyclopedic Entry: cloud cryosphere Noun icy part of the Earth's waterincluding icebergs, glaciers, and ice caps.
Earth Noun our planet, the third from the Sun. The Earth is the only place in the known universe that supports life.
Encyclopedic Entry: Earth Europa Noun moon of Jupiter.
evaporate Verb to change from a liquid to a gas or vapor.
fog Noun clouds at ground level.
Encyclopedic Entry: fog glacier Noun mass of ice that moves slowly over land.
Encyclopedic Entry: glacier groundwater Noun water found in an aquifer.
Encyclopedic Entry: groundwater hydrosphere Noun all the Earth's water in the ground, on the surface, and in the air.
Encyclopedic Entry: hydrosphere ice Noun water in its solid form.
Encyclopedic Entry: ice iceberg Noun large chunks of ice that break off from glaciers and float in the ocean.
Encyclopedic Entry: iceberg ice cap Noun area of fewer than 50,000 square kilometers (19,000 square miles) covered by ice.
Encyclopedic Entry: ice cap Jupiter Noun largest planet in the solar system, the fifth planet from the Sun.
lake Noun body of water surrounded by land.
Encyclopedic Entry: lake liquid Noun state of matter with no fixed shape and molecules that remain loosely bound with each other.
ocean Noun large body of salt water that covers most of the Earth.
Encyclopedic Entry: ocean planet Noun large, spherical celestial body that regularly rotates around a star.
Encyclopedic Entry: planet rain Noun liquid precipitation.
Encyclopedic Entry: rain river Noun large stream of flowing fresh water.
Encyclopedic Entry: river snow Noun precipitation made of ice crystals.
vapor Noun visible liquid suspended in the air, such as fog.
water cycle Noun movement of water between atmosphere, land, and ocean.
Encyclopedic Entry: water cycle well Noun a hole drilled in the Earth to obtain a liquid or gaseous substance.
Media Credits
The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.
Writers
Kim Rutledge
Melissa McDaniel
Diane Boudreau
Tara Ramroop
Santani Teng
Erin Sprout
Hilary Costa
Hilary Hall
Jeff Hunt
Illustrators
Tim Gunther
Mary Crooks, National Geographic Society
Editors
Kara West
Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing
Educator Reviewer
Nancy Wynne
Producer
Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society
Sources
Dunn, Margery G. (Editor). (1989, 1993). "Exploring Your World: The Adventure of Geography." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.
Last Updated
Feb. 9, 2011
For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please visit our FAQ page.
Media
Some media assets (videos, photos, audio recordings and PDFs) can be downloaded and used outside the National Geographic website according to the Terms of Service. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the lower right hand corner (
) of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.
Text
Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.
Interactives
Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.