#14. An Introduction

Water exists in nature in all these three forms … as solid ice, as liquid water and as gaseous water vapor.

Water covers 70.9% of the surface of earth, and is vital for all known forms of life. On Earth, 96.5% of the planet’s water is found in oceans, 1.7% in groundwater, 1.7% in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, a small fraction in other large water bodies, and 0.001% as vapor in the air and clouds.

Only 2.5% of the Earth’s water is freshwater, and 98.8% of that water is in ice and groundwater. Less than 0.3% of all freshwater is in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere, and an even smaller amount of the Earth’s freshwater (0.003%) is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products.

Water bodies hide many treasures underneath their surface. There are numerous animals and plants under water. We will look at a few of them here.