Hydrology

Hydrology

Hydrology is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on the Earth including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability. The domains of hydrology include the fields of hydrometeorology, surface hydrology, hydrogeology, drainage basin management, and water quality. The hydrologist can engage with in various activities such as earth and environmental science, physical geography, geology, civil and environmental engineering, hydraulic modelling, flood mapping, catchment flood management plans, shoreline management plans, estuarine strategies, coastal protection, and flood alleviation.

The Water Cycle (Source: http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html)

Branches of Hydrology are:

☞ Chemical hydrology is the study of the chemical characteristics of water.

☞ Ecohydrology is the study of interactions between organisms and the hydrologic cycle.

☞ Hydrogeology is the study of the presence and movement of groundwater.

☞ Hydroinformatics is the adaptation of information technology to hydrology and water resources applications.

☞ Hydrometeorology is the study of transfer of water and energy between land and water body surfaces and the lower atmosphere.

☞ Isotope hydrology is the study of the isotopic signatures of water.

☞ Surface hydrology is the study of hydrologic processes that operate at/near Earth’s surface.

☞ Drainage basin management covers water storage, in form of reservoirs and flood protection.

☞ Water quality includes the chemistry of water in rivers and lakes, both pollutants and natural solutes.

☞ Oceanography is the study of water in oceans and estuaries.

☞ Meteorology is the study of atmosphere and weather including precipitation as snow and rainfall.

☞ Limnology is the study of biological, chemical, physical geological of all inland waters.  

Hydrological Models

Hydrological Models are simplified and conceptual representations of a part of the hydrologic or water cycle for hydrologic prediction and understanding hydrologic processes and behavior of hydrologic systems to make better prediction and to solve the major challenges in water resources management. There are two major types of hydrologic models can be distinguished:

☞ Stochastic Models are the black box systems, based on data and using mathematical statistical concepts to link a certain input to the model output. Commonly used techniques are regression, transfer functions, neural networks and system identification.

Surface Water Concept (wikipedia)

☞ Process-Based Models (known as deterministic hydrological models) represent the physical processes observed in the real world including surface runoff, subsurface flow, evapotranspiration, and channel flow. 

Please visit our Facebook Page: Water Resources and Disaster Management