Hydrology

Hydrology deals with the origin, occurrence,

circulation, distribution, the physical and chemical
properties of water and its interaction with living
organisms.

Hydrology is an essential field of science since everything

from tiny organisms to individuals to societies to the whole of
civilization - depends so much on water.
 Branches of Hydrology
Hydrology can generally be divided into two main
branches:
Engineering Hydrology
(Planning, design and Operation of Engineering projects for the control and use of water)

Applied Hydrology
(Hydrological cycle, precipitation, runoff, relationship between precipitation and runoff,
hydrographs, Flood Routing)
 Branches of Hydrology (cont.)
Hydrology can be divided into the following branches
• Chemical Hydrology : Study of chemical characteristics of water.

• Ecohydrology : Interaction between organisms and the

hydrological cycle.

• Hydrogeology : Also referred to as geohydrology, is the study of

the presence and movement of ground water.

• Hydroinformatics : is the adaptation of information technology to

hydrology and water resource applications.
 Branches of Hydrology (cont.)
• Hydrometeorology : is the study of the transfer of water and
energy between land and water body surfaces and the lower
atmosphere.

• Isotope Hydrology : is the study of isotropic signatures of

water (origin and age of water).

• Surface water Hydrology : is the study of hydrologic processes

that operate at or near earth’s surface.

• Ground water Hydrology : is the study of underground water.

 Branches of Hydrology (cont.)
• Drainage basin management : covers water storage in the
form of reservoir and flood protection.

• Water quality : includes the chemistry of water in rivers and

lakes, both of pollutants and natural solutes.
 Application of Hydrology
 Determining the water balance of a region.

 Determining the agricultural water balance.

 Designing riparian restoration projects.

 Mitigation and predicting floods, landslides and drought

risk.

 Flood forecasting and flood warnings.

 Application of Hydrology (cont.)
 Designing irrigation schemes and managing agricultural productivity.

 Designing dams for water supply or hydroelectric power generation.

 Designing bridges.

 Designing sewers and urban drainage system.

 Predicting geomorphologic changes, such as, erosion or

sedimentation.
 Application of Hydrology (cont.)
 Assessing the impact of natural and anthropogenic
environmental change.

 Assessing containment transport risk and establishing

environmental policy guidelines
 Hydrological cycle
Hydrological cycle also known as Water cycle or
H₂O cycle, describes the continuous Movement of
water on, above and below the surface of the
earth.
 Hydrological cycle (cont.)

Condensation

Transpiration
Precipitation
Evaporation

Well

Overland Water Flow

Lake, Pond, Ocean

Groundwater Recharge

Aquifer
 Hydrological cycle (cont.)
The main processes involved in hydrological cycle are
• Evaporation
• Condensation
• Precipitation
• Interception
• Infiltration
• Percolation
• Transpiration
• Runoff
• storage
 Hydrological cycle (cont.)
The water cycle begins with the evaporation of water from oceans
and other water bodies. The resulting vapors are transported by
moving air and under proper conditions, the vapor are condensed to
form clouds, which in turn results in precipitation.
the precipitation which falls upon land is dispersed in several ways.
The greater part is temporarily retained in the soil near where it falls
and is ultimately returned to the atmosphere by evaporation and
transpiration by plants. A portion of the water flows over surface
soil to stream channels, while other penetrates into the ground to
become part of the ground water. Under the influence of gravity,
both surface and underground water move towards lower
elevations and may eventually discharge into the oceans.
 Hydrological cycle (cont.)
 This Hydrologic Cycle recycles the earth’s valuable
water supply. In other words, the water keeps
getting reused over and over.
 Just think, the next glass of water you drink could
have been used by a dinosaur in the Mesozoic Era
one hundred million years ago!
 Water in that glass could have been a liquid, a
solid, and a gas countless times over thanks to the
water cycle.
 Precipitation
The term precipitation as used in hydrology is meant
for all forms of moisture emanating from the clouds
and all forms of water like rain, snow, hail and sleet
derived from atmospheric vapors, falling to the ground.
Precipitation is one of the most important events of hydrology. Floods
and droughts are directly related to the occurrence of precipitation.
Water resources management, water supply schemes, irrigation,
hydrologic data for design of hydraulic structures and environmental
effects of water resources development projects are related to
precipitation in one way or the other. So it is important to study various
aspects of precipitation.
 Forms of Precipitation
 Drizzle : These are the minute particles of water at start of rain.
These consist of water drops under 0.5 mm diameter and its
intensity is usually less than 1.0 mm/hr. Their speed is very slow
and we cannot even feel them. Therefore they cannot flow over the
surface but usually evaporate.

 Rain : It is form of precipitation in which the size of drops is more

than 0.5 mm and less than 6.25 mm in diameter. It can produce
flow over the ground and can infiltrate and percolate. Both the
duration as well as rate of rainfall are important. If the rainfall per
unit time is greater than the rate of infiltration, the rain water can
flow over the surface of earth.
 Forms of Precipitation (cont.)
 Glaze : It is the ice coating formed on drizzle or rain drops as it
comes in contact with the cold surfaces on the ground.

 Sleet : Sleet is frozen rain drops cooled to the ice stage while falling
through air at subfreezing temperatures.

 Snow : Snow is precipitation in the form of ice crystals resulting from

sublimation i.e. change of water vapor directly to ice.
 Forms of Precipitation (cont.)
 Snowflakes : A snowflake is made up of a number of ice crystals
fused together.

 Hail : Hail is the type of precipitation in the form of balls or lumps

of ice over 5 mm diameter formed by alternate freezing and
melting as they are carried up and down by highly turbulent air
currents. The impact of these is also more. A single hailstone
weighing over a pound has been observed.
Factors influencing Precipitation formation

 A lifting mechanism to produce cooling of the air.

 A mechanism to produce condensation of water vapors and

formation of cloud droplets.

 A mechanism to produce growth of cloud droplets to size

capable of falling to the ground against the lifting force of air.
Factors influencing Precipitation formation (cont.)

 Mechanism of cooling
• When air ascends from near the surface to upper
levels in the atmosphere it cools.

• This is the only mechanism capable of producing the degree and rate of
cooling needed to account for heavy rainfall.

• Cooling lowers the capacity of a given volume of air to hold a certain

amount of water vapor.

• As a result super saturation occurs and the excess moisture over

saturation condenses through the cooling process.
Factors influencing Precipitation formation (cont.)

 Condensation of water vapor

• Condensation of water into cloud droplets takes place on
hygroscopic nuclei which are small particles having an affinity for
water.

• The source of these condensation nuclei are the particles of sea salt
or products of combustion of certain sulfurous and nitrous acid and
carbon dioxide.

• There is always sufficient nuclei present in the atmosphere.

Factors influencing Precipitation formation (cont.)

 Growth of Droplet
• Growth of droplets is required if the liquid water present in the
cloud is to reach the ground. The two processes regarded as most
effective for droplet growth are:

i. Coalescence of droplets through collision due to difference in

speed of motion between larger and smaller droplets.
ii. Co-existence of ice crystals and water droplets.

• Co-existence effect generally happens in the temperature range

from 100 to 20o F.
Factors influencing Precipitation formation (cont.)

• If in a layer of clouds there is a mixture of water droplets and ice

crystals, the saturation vapor pressure over ice is lower than that
over water. This leads to the evaporation of water drops and
condensation of much of this water on ice crystals causing their
growth and ultimate fall through the clouds. This effect is known as
Bergeron’s effect.

• The ice crystals will further grow as they fall and collide with water
droplets.