Outline of hydrology

What type of thing is hydrology?

Hydrology can be described as all of the following:

a branch of science

a branch of natural science

a branch of physical science

a branch of Earth science

a branch of geography

a branch of physical geography

Essence of hydrology

Water

Hydrologic cycle

Cryosphere

water on Earth

Branches of hydrology

Hydrometry – the measurement of the different components of the hydrologic cycle

Chemical hydrology – the study of the chemical characteristics of water

Ecohydrology – the study of interactions between organisms and the hydrologic cycle

Hydrogeology – the study of the presence and movement of water in aquifers

Hydroinformatics – the adaptation of information technology to hydrology and water resources applications

Hydrometeorology – the study of the transfer of water and energy between land and water body surfaces and the lower atmosphere

Isotope hydrology – the study of the isotopic signatures of water

Surface hydrology – the study of hydrologic processes that operate at or near the Earth's surface

Catchment hydrology – study of the governing processes in a given hydrologically-defined catchment

Drainage basin management – covers water-storage, in the form of reservoirs, and flood-protection.

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

History of hydrology

History of hydrology

Abstract concepts in hydrology

Field capacity

Water movement pathways

Water cycle (aka "hydrological cycle")

Above ground

Evaporation –

Pan evaporation –

Condensation –

Precipitation – condensed water, is pulled by gravity back to Earth, in the form of:

Drizzle

Rain

Sleet

Snow

Graupel

Hail

Interception –

Evapotranspiration –

Stemflow –

Throughfall –

On ground

Surface runoff – flow of surface water

First flush

Floods

Flash floods

Overland flow –

Horton overland flow –

Below ground

Infiltration –

Pipeflow –

Baseflow –

Subsurface flow – flow of ground water

Physical things studied by hydrology

Ground water

Soil moisture

Surface water

Environmental issues

Desertification/Oasification –

Hypoxia –

Erosion –

Water pollution –

Groundwater

Aquifer characterization

Flow direction

Piezometer - groundwater pressure and, by inference, groundwater depth (see: aquifer test)

Conductivity, storativity, transmisivity

Geophysical methods

Vadose zone characterization

Infiltration

Infiltrometer - infiltration

Soil moisture

Capacitance probe-soil moisture

Time domain reflectometer - soil moisture

Tensiometer - soil moisture

Solute sampling

Geophysical methods

Surface water

Water level

Mechanical pressure gauge –

Electronic pressure gauge –

Acoustic pressure gauge –

Channel shape

Dumpy level –

Discharge

Acoustic Doppler velocimeter –

Dilution tracing –

Meteorological

Precipitation

Rain gauge – rainfall depth (unit) and intensity (unit time⁻¹)

Disdrometer – raindrop size, total precipitation depth and intensity

Doppler weather radar – raindrop size, total precipitation depth and intensity, rain cloud reflectivity converted to precipitation intensity through calibration to rain gauges

Wind profiler – precipitation vertical and horizontal motion, vertical cross-section of reflectivity and typing

Frozen precipitation (on ground)

Pressure sensors – pressure, depth, and liquid water equivalent

Acoustic sensors – pressure, depth, and liquid water equivalent

Mean windspeed and direction

Anemometer –

Doppler sonar –

Wind profiler – air vertical and horizontal motion

Mean air temperature

Thermometer –

Humidity

Infrared thermometer – a form of remote sensing

Hygrometer (Psychrometer) – measures relative humidity

Air pressure

Barometer –

Heat flux

Net radiometer –

Pyranometer –

Pyrgeometer –

Heat flux sensor –

Lysimeter –

Cloudiness/Sunshine

Spectroradiometer –

Campbell–Stokes recorder –

Evapotranspiration

Water budget method

Basin water balance –

Evaporation pan –

Lysimetry –

Soil moisture depletion –

Water vapor transfer method

Bowen ratio – considers the energy budget

Eddy covariance –

Component analysis

Porometry/Sap flow –

Interception loss –

Soil evaporation –

Large-scale

Scintillometer –

Remote sensing estimates –

LIDAR –

Soil/porous media

Bulk density & porosity

Oven dried sample –

Matric potential

Suction plate – determines relationship between the water volume and matric potential

Resistance thermometer – relates to matric potential from previous calibration

Hydraulic conductivity

Disc permeameter – measures soil hydraulic conductivity

Rainfall simulator – measures output through the application of constant input ("rain") in a sealed area

Slug test – addition or removal of water and monitors the time until return to predisturbance level

Piezometer –

Soil moisture content (water volume percentage)

Frequency domain sensor –

Time domain reflectometer –

Neutron probe –

Water quality

Conductivity

Electrical conductivity – variety of probes used

pH

pH meter –

Dissolved oxygen (DO)

Winkler test –

Turbidity

Nephelometer (Turbidimeter) –

Water clarity

Secchi disk –

Bed load

Erosion/deposition

Modeling

Behavioral modeling in hydrology

Equations

Basin

Hack's law –

Catchment

Water balance –

Evaporation

Penman –

Penman-Monteith –

Infiltration/Soil Movement

Darcy's Law –

Darcy-Weisbach –

Richards equation –

Streamflow/Open channel

Fick's law of diffusion –

Chézy formula –

Manning formula –

Strahler number –

Standard Step Method – computational technique for modeling steady state open channel surface profiles

Erosion

Hjulstrøm curve –

Groundwater

Dupuit–Forchheimer assumption –

Groundwater flow equation –

Power/Uncertainty

Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient

GLUE

Models

Canadian Land Surface Scheme

CHyM – Cetemps Hydrological Model

DRAINMOD[1]

DSSAM

FEHM

Flood Modeller Pro

Groundwater model

GSSHA

HBV hydrology model

HEC-HMS

HydroGeoSphere

Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance

Hydrological transport model

Isochrone map

Litpack

METRIC

MIKE 11

MODFLOW

MOHID water modelling system

MOHID Land

MOUSE DHI

RheinBlick2050

Runoff model (reservoir)

SahysMod

SaltMod

SEDCAD

SHETRAN

Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model

SWAT model

Temporal Analyst

Vflo

WAFLEX

WaterGAP

WEAP

ZOOMQ3D

Applications of hydrology

Some examples of applications of hydrology:

Analyzing the impacts of antecedent moisture on sanitary sewer systems

Assessing contaminant transport risk and establishing environmental policy guidelines

Assessing the impacts of natural and anthropogenic environmental change on water resources

Designing bridges

Designing dams for water supply or hydroelectric power generation

Designing irrigation schemes and managing agricultural productivity

Designing riparian restoration projects

Designing sewers and urban drainage system

Determining the agricultural water balance

Determining the water balance of a region

Fog collection

Part of the hazard module in catastrophe modeling

Predicting and mitigating flood, landslide and drought risk

Predicting geomorphologic changes, such as erosion or sedimentation

Providing drinking water

Real-time flood forecasting and flood warning

Intergovernmental organizations

International Hydrological Programme (IHP)

International research bodies

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education

National research bodies

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology – UK

Centre for Water Science, Cranfield University, UK

eawag – aquatic research, ETH Zürich, Switzerland

Institute of Hydrology, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Germany

United States Geological Survey – Water Resources of the United States

NOAA's National Weather Service – Office of Hydrologic Development, USA

US Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center, USA

Hydrologic Research Center, USA

NOAA Economics and Social Sciences, USA

University of Oklahoma Center for Natural Hazards and Disasters Research, USA

National Hydrology Research Centre, Canada

National Institute of Hydrology, India

National and international societies

Geological Society of America (GSA) – Hydrogeology Division

American Geophysical Union (AGU) – Hydrology Section

National Ground Water Association (NGWA)

American Water Resources Association

Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI)

International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS)

Statistics in Hydrology Working Group (subgroup of IAHS)

German Hydrological Society (DHG: Deutsche Hydrologische Gesellschaft)

Italian Hydrological Society (SII-IHS) – http://www.sii-ihs.it

Nordic Association for Hydrology

British Hydrological Society

Russian Geographical Society (Moscow Center) – Hydrology Commission

International Association for Environmental Hydrology

International Association of Hydrogeologists

Basin- and catchment-wide overviews

Connected Waters Initiative, University of New South Wales – Investigating and raising awareness of groundwater and water resource issues in Australia

Murray Darling Basin Initiative, Department of Environment and Heritage, Australia

Hydrology-related journals

Hydrological Processes, ISSN 1099-1085 (electronic) 0885-6087 (paper), John Wiley & Sons

Hydrology Research, ISSN 0029-1277, IWA Publishing (formerly Nordic Hydrology)

Journal of Hydroinformatics, ISSN 1464-7141, IWA Publishing

Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, ISSN 0733-9496, ASCE Publication

Journal of Hydrology

Water Research

Water Resources Research

Hydrological Sciences Journal - Journal of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) ISSN 0262-6667 (Print), ISSN 2150-3435 (Online)

Hydrology scholars

Ven Te Chow, Professor of Hydraulic Engineering, University of Illinois. Most noted for the 1964 compendium of water resources technology and methods titled "Handbook of Applied Hydrology", published by McGraw-Hill Book Company. Library of Congress Catalogue number 63-13931.

Allied sciences

Aquatic chemistry –

Civil engineering –

Hydraulic engineering –

Climatology –

Environmental engineering –

Environmental Engineering Science –

Geomorphology –

Hydroacoustics –

Hydrography –

Limnology –

Oceanography –

Physical geography –

Hydrology lists

Drainage basins by area – largest hydrologically defined watersheds in the world

Floods – chronological and geographic list of major floods worldwide

Waterways – worldwide listing of waterbodies classified as rivers, canals, estuarys, and firths