An intimate part of this process is the evaporation of water from the earth's surface, the formation of clouds from this water at high elevations and its precipitation back to the surface.
(An intimate part of this process; is; the evaporation of water from the earth's surface, the formation of clouds from this water at high elevations and its precipitation back to the surface)
An intimate part of this process
is
the evaporation of water from the earth's surface, the formation of clouds from this water at high elevations and its precipitation back to the surface