HYDROLOGY INTERCEPTION: Rainfall may be intercepted by vegetation,

MODULE 1 structures and other such surface modifications from which it

THE WATER CYCLE may either be evaporated back to the atmosphere or move down
HYDROLOGY - the science that deals with the to the ground surface.
occurrence, circulation anddistribution of water TRANSPIRATION: Vegetation sends a portion of the water from
of the earth and the earth’s atmosphere under the ground surface back to the atmosphere
INFILTRATION: A portion of the water that reaches the ground
enters the earth's surface
The domain of hydrology includes the:
RUNOFF: portion of the precipitation which by a variety of paths
• physical above and below the surface of the earth reaches the stream
• chemical and channel
• biological reaction STREAMFLOW: runoff that enters a stream channel
STORAGE: portion of the precipitation falling on land surface
SCIENTIFIC HYDROLOGY- concerned chiefly with academic which does not flow out as runoff gets stored as either as surface
aspects of hydrology water bodies like Lakes, Reservoirs and Wetlands or as sub-
surface water body, usually called Groundwater.
ENGINEERING HYDROLOGY GROUNDWATER
-concerned chiefly with the practical application of hydrology ❖ The amount of groundwater storage is much greater than that
-the estimation of water resources of lakes and rivers.
-the study of processes such as precipitation, runoff, ❖ However, it is not possible to extract the entire groundwater
evapotranspiration and their interaction by practicable means.
STORAGE: LAKE
-the study of problems such as floods and droughts, and
a large, naturally occurring inland body of water
strategies to combat them
STORAGE: RESERVOIR
Artificial or natural inland body of water used to store water to
Applications of hydrology meet various demands
-Assessing impacts of natural and human induced STORAGE: WETLAND
environmental Natural or artificial areas of shallow water or saturated soils that
change on water resources contain or could support water–loving plants
-Determining the water balance for a region
-Designing urban drinking water and sewer systems WATERSHED / CATCHMENT - area of land draining into a
stream or a water
hydrologic cycle - The various aspects of water related to the course at a given location
earth can be explained in terms of a cycle
MODULE 2
[1580] BERNARD PALISSY WEATHER SYSTEMS
❖ first man to describe the present day concept of ‘water cycle’ ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE - Force per unit area exerted on a
❖ assert that rainfall alone was sufficient for the maintenance of surface, Measures the weight of the air per unit area
rivers
WIND - air in natural motion, as that moving horizontally at any
❖ described how water evaporates from the oceans and cools
velocity along the earth's surface:
to form clouds. The clouds move inland where they rise,
condense and fall as rain. This water gathers as lakes and THE CORIOLIS EFFECT: describes the pattern of deflection
streams and flows back to the ocean in a (appear to move at a curve as opposed to a straight line) taken
continuous cycle. by objects not firmly connected to the ground (like planes or
currents of air) as they travel long distances around the Earth
[1674] PIERRE PERRAULT
❖ French hydrologist whose investigation of the origin INTERTROPICAL CONVERGENCE ZONE (ITCZ) (KASAMA
of springs was instrumental in establishing hydrology as an SA EXAM) - characterized by convective activity which
generates often vigorous thunderstorms over large areas. It is
experimental science
most active over continental land masses by day and relatively
❖ estimated the flow in the Seine River and compared it with less active over the oceans.
rainfall in the watershed, showing that the rainfall HADLEY CELL - also tropical cell; characterized by north-east
was easily enough to account for the flow in the river trades
❖ This conclusion was later supported by a more rigorous EASTERLIES - trade winds between 30 degrees north latitude
quantitative and the equator flowing toward the south
analysis published by Edme Mariotte HORSE LATITUDES - region around the 30 degrees north and
south latitudes, with descending air creating minimal
winds and little cloudiness
THE WATER CYCLE
FERREL CELL - also mid-latitude cell; characterized by warm
EVAPORATION : Water in the oceans evaporate due to the
south westerlies
heat
WESTERLIES - warm air that travels northwards tend to shift to
energy provided by solar radiation
the right in the northern hemisphere due to the Coriolis force
CONDENSATION: The water vapor moves upwards and forms TROPOPAUSE - the interface between the troposphere and the
clouds stratosphere
PRECIPITATION: Clouds condense and fall back to the oceans
as rain. A part of the clouds is driven to the land areas by winds, TROPICAL CYCLONE - a rapid rotating storm originating over
where they condense and precipitate onto the land as rain, tropical oceans from where it draws the energy to develop; has
snow, hail, sleet, etc. a low pressure centre and clouds spiraling towards the eyewall
surrounding the "eye", the central part of the system where the
weather is normally calm and free of clouds. Its diameter is RAIN GAUGES - Precipitation is expressed in terms of the
typically around 200 to 500 km, but can reach 1000 km depth to which rainfall water would stand on an area if all the
rain were collected on it. Thus 1 cm of rainfall over a catchment
El Niño- A warming of the ocean surface, or above-average sea area of 1 km2 represents a volume of water equal to 10000 m3.
surface temperatures (SST), in the central and eastern tropical
Pacific Ocean. non recording rain gauges
La Niña - A cooling of the ocean surface, or below-average sea Symon’s Gauge - consists of a circular collecting area of 12.7
surface temperatures (SST), in the central and eastern tropical cm in diameter connected to a funnel. The rim of the collector is
Pacific Ocean set in a horizontal plane at a height of 30.5 cm above the ground
Neutral - Neither El Niño or La Niña. Often tropical Pacific SSTs level.
are generally close to average.
recording rain gauges
FORMATION OF PRECIPITATION Tipping-bucket type - a 30.5 cm size rain gauge adopted for
use by the US Weather Bureau. The catch from the funnel falls
MECHANISMS OF PRECIPITATION FORMATION onto one pair of small buckets. These buckets are so balanced
- Moisture source must be available. that when 0.25 mm of rainfall collects in one bucket, it tips and
- Moist air must undergo lifting and resultant cooling. brings the other one in position.
- A phase change must occur with resultant Weighing-bucket type - the catch from the funnel empties into
condensation onto small nuclei a bucket and its contents are recorded on a clockwork-driven
- in the air. chart. The clockwork mechanism has the capacity to run for as
- Droplets must grow large enough to overcome drag long as one week.
and evaporation to Natural-siphon type - also known as floating type gauge. The
- reach the ground. rainfall collected by a funnel-shaped collector is led into a float
chamber causing a float to rise.
CONDENSATION Optical rain gauge - This type of gauge has a row of collection
•Water vapor into droplets occur due to cooling of moist air to a funnels. In an enclosed space below each is a laser diode and
temperature below saturation point for water vapor a phototransistor detector.
• DEW POINT: Temperature at which a sample of air must be Optical rain gauge - This type of gauge has a row of collection
cooled to reach saturation funnels. In an enclosed space below each is a laser diode and
• Achieved through vertical lifting to levels where pressure and a phototransistor detector.
temperature are lower Acoustic disdrometers - also referred to as hydrophones. Able
• A large portion of the atmosphere lies within 18,000 ft of the to sense the sound signatures for each drop size as rain strikes
surface and contains most of the clouds and moisture a water surface within the gauge.

HUMIDITY- Measure of the amount of water vapor in the Radar measurement of rainfall
atmosphere Meteorological radars - operate with wavelengths ranging from
3 to 10 cm, the common values being 5 and 10 cm.
Specific humidity - Mass of water vapor in a unit mass of moist
air Presentation of rainfall data
Mass Curve of Rainfall
Relative humidity - Ratio of the air’s actual water vapor content ● a plot of the accumulated precipitation against time, plotted
compared to the amount of water vapor at saturation for that in chronological order
temperature. ● very useful in extracting the information on the duration and
magnitude of a storm
FOG - is a low cloud with a base that is near the ground; results ● intensities at various time intervals in a storm can be obtained
from cooling by the slope of the curve.
near the surface or from the addition of enough water to cause Hyetograph
saturation ● a plot of the intensity of rainfall against the time interval
● derived from the mass curve and usually represented as a bar
COALESCENCE - As the droplets increase in mass, they begin chart
to move relative to the overall cloud. ● The area under a hyetograph represents the total precipitation
received in the period
ICE CRYSTAL PROCESS - Attracts condensation on Point Rainfall
freezing nuclei because of lower vapor pressures ● also known as station rainfall, refers to the rainfall data of a
station
CONVECTIONAL PRECIPITATION - due to intense heating of Moving Average
air at the ground, which leads to expansion and vertical rise in ● a technique for smoothing out the high frequency fluctuations
the air. of a time series and to enable the trend, if any, to be noticed.

OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION - due to mechanical Presentation of rainfall data

lifting of moist airmasses over the windward side of the mountain
ranges. Arithmetic Mean Method - When the rainfall measured at
various stations in a catchment shows little variation, the
AIR MASSES - Large bodies of air with fairly consistent average precipitation over the catchment area is taken as the
temperature and humidity gradients in the horizontal direction at arithmetic mean of the station values.
a given altitude.

MEASUREMENT OF PRECIPITATION
Thiessen-Mean Method - In this method the rainfall recorded
at each station is given a weightage on the basis of an area
closest to the station. The average rainfall over the catchment
is calculated as

Isohyetal Method - An isohyet is a line joining points of

equal rainfall magnitude. In this method, the catchment area is
drawn to scale and the rain gauge stations are marked. The area
between two adjacent isohyets are determined with a
planimeter. If the isohyets go out of catchment, the catchment
boundary is used as the boundary line.