Hydrology EESC BC 3025 - Syllabus

Basics

• Summary: Discussion of the basic physical principles of the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation, runoff, stream flow, percolation, and groundwater flow), as well as environmentally relevant applications based on case studies. Coverage of contemporary global issues related to water resources, including pollution control, environmental rehabilitation, sustainable development, and global warming.
• Prerequisites: Algebra, one year college science, EES BC 2100 (TESY: Climate) or permission of the instructor, familiarity with web browsers, MS Excel or other spreadsheet software, wordprocessor.
• Credits: 3 points.
• Hours: Tue, Thu from 2:10 to 4:00 pm, in 530 Altschul Hall.
• Format: Lecture, assigned readings, demonstrations in class, hands-on computer and wet lab activities, problem sets (often requiring use of the Internet, MS Excel), and 2 mandatory field trips (could be combined to one weekend trip)
• Grading policy: Midterm exam: 30%; Final exam: 30%; Fieldtrip reports: 10%; Homework: 30%
• Webpage: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~martins/hydro.html
• Some material on the website is password protected; login: hydro
• Texbooks: Hornberger, G.M., Raffensberger, J.P., Wiberg, P.L., and Eshleman, K.N. (1998) Elements of physical hydrology. Johns Hopkins University Press,  Baltimore, 302p.  The book contains a CD ROM. It can be purchased at Labyrinth Books, 112th Street for ~ $50.
• Instructors: Martin Stute, Environmental Science, Barnard College (martins@ldeo.columbia.edu, tel: 4-8110/95-8704); Saugata Datta, Barnard College (sdatta@ldeo.columbia.edu, tel: 95-8703)
• Students with disabilities who will be taking this course and may need disability-related classroom accomodations are encouraged to make an appointment to see me as soon as possible. Also, stop by the Office of Disability Services in 7 Milbank to register for support services.

Outline

• Water for the world
• basic issues
• demand/supply
• trends
• The global hydrological cycle
• the global system, fluxes, reservoirs, and residence times
• evaporation, condensation, precipitation
• regional water balances and resources
• hydrological effects of climate change
• Catchment hydrology: Land-atmosphere interactions
• precipitation
• interception
• evapotranspiration
• water and energy balance
• subsurface flow
• infiltration and soil moisture
• runoff
• goundwater flow
• Structure and properties of water
• Principles of fluid dynamics
• forces on fluids
• fluid statics/dynamics
• laminar and turbulent flow
• Open channel hydraulics
• discharge measurements using control structures
• velocity distribution in open channels
• Catchment hydrology: Streams, floods and droughts
• hydrographs
• nature and cause of floods
• flood routing
• estimating magnitude and frequency of extreme events
• patterns, cycles and teleconnections
• Goundwater flow
• Darcy's law
• hydraulic head, conductivity, permeability, storativity, and porosity
• water in natural formations
• steadt groundwater flow
• flow nets
• heterogeneity and anisotropy
• Groundwater transport
• advection, dispersion, adsorption, decay
• tracer techniques
• Water in the unsaturated zone
• forces on water in the unsaturated zone
• infiltration
• Monitoring and assessing processes
• remote sensing and hydrological networks
• measuring precipitation, evaporation, evapotranspiration, runoff, subsurface water
• Modelling hydrologic processes
• groundwater flow and transport models
• modeling runoff
• Water quantity
• vegetation change
• desertification
• irrigation and reservoirs
• urbanization
• overexplotation of groundwater
• land drainage and channel modification
• case studies: Aral Sea, the 1993 Mississippi flood, groundwater overdraft in the western US
• Water quality
• acidification of surface waters
• major sources of pollution (SW and GW)
• controlling water quality
• Managing water resources: surface waters
• system analysis in modern water management
• reservoirs
• river regulations
• case studies: Diversion of Russian and American rivers, Aswan High Dam, Chinese Dams, James Bay
• Managing water resources: Towards a sustainable future?
• desalination
• controlling demand and waste
• protecting the environment
• hydropolitics
• global warming
• integrated water resources management
• case studies: Ganges-Brahmaputra, Mekong basin, Arab World