What is the study of water and its effects on and in the earth and in the atmosphere called?

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Hydrology is the study of water and its effects on and in the earth and in the atmosphere. It looks at how water is distributed and moves through the environment—from precipitation, infiltration, and runoff to rivers, lakes, groundwater, and water vapor in the air—and how these processes interact with land, soils, and vegetation. Understanding the water cycle and processes like evaporation, condensation, and groundwater flow helps explain floods, droughts, and water availability. This makes hydrology the right pick because it directly covers water within both the Earth and the atmosphere, whereas oceanography focuses on oceans, hydraulics on engineered fluid flow, and meteorology on weather and atmospheric phenomena.