When rain occurs, some of it evaporates as it falls. Evaporation also occurs when water vapor moves from the surface of the ground. Much of the rainwater runs along the surface of the ground. This is called run-off water, and it moves from rivulet to stream to river. When the run-off water reaches a pond, lake, or ocean, evaporation constantly rises from the surfaces to these bodies of water.
Rainwater also soaks into the ground.
This is called groundwater. Groundwater flows through springs or underground streams. Groundwater also feeds into a pond, lake, or ocean, and undergoes evaporation. During dry periods, it may move upward into roots and through the soils where it will again return into the atmosphere by evaporation. Warm air carries the water vapor upward into the atmosphere.