Hydropedology

1712021210

Dr. Mohammed Salahat

Introduction
• Hydrology deals with the occurrence, circulation and distribution of water
upon, over and beneath the earth surface.

• Hydrology deals with:

(1) estimation of water resources

(2) the study of processes such as precipitation, runoff, evapotranspiration

and their interaction, and

(3) the study of problems such as flood and draught and strategies to
combat them
 Applications
 Hydrology mainly used in connection with the design and operation of hydraulic structures
 Determining the water balance and agricultural water balance of a region
 Designing riparian restoration projects
 Mitigating and predicting flood, landslide and drought risk
 Real-time flood forecasting and flood warning
 Designing irrigation schemes and managing agricultural productivity
 Part of the hazard module in catastrophe modeling
 Providing drinking water
 Designing bridges, dams for water supply or hydroelectric power generation
 Hydrological cycle
• Water circulatory system on earth the waters of the earth, linking
atmosphere, land, and oceans

• Water evaporates from the ocean surface, driven by energy from

the sun, and joins the atmosphere, moving inland

• Atmospheric conditions act to condense and precipitate water

onto the land surface
Elements of hydrological cycle
• Evaporation, E
• Transpiration, T
• Precipitation, P
• Surface runoff, R
• Groundwater flow, G, and,
• Infiltration, I
 Precipitation
• All forms of water that reach the earth from the atmosphere is called
precipitation

• The usual forms are rainfall, snowfall, frost, hail, sleet, and dew. Of all
these, the first two contribute significant amounts of water.

• Rainfall being the predominant form of precipitation causing

stream flow, especially the flood flow in majority of rivers. Thus, in
this context, rainfall is used synonymously with precipitation.
 Water forms
• In nature water is present in three aggregation states:

– solid: snow and ice;

– liquid: pure water and solutions;

– gaseous: vapors under different grades of pressure and saturation

• The water exists in the atmosphere in these three aggregation

states
 Types of precipitation
Rain, snow, hail, drizzle, glaze, sleet

1. Rain:

– Is precipitation in the form of water drops of size larger than 0.5 mm to 6mm

– The rainfall is classified in to

a) Light rain – if intensity is trace to 2.5 mm/h

b) Moderate – if intensity is 2.5 mm/hr to 7.5 mm/hr

c) Heavy rain – above 7.5 mm/hr

 Types of precipitation
2. Snow:

– Snow is formed from ice crystal masses, which usually combine to

form flakes

3. Hail (violent thunderstorm)

– precipitation in the form of small balls or lumps usually consisting of

concentric layers of clear ice and compact snow

– Hail varies from 0.5 to 5 cm in diameter and can be damaging crops

and small buildings
 Types of precipitation
4. Sleet - droplets that freeze once entering the freezing layer of air

5. Drizzle – fine sprinkle of numerous water droplets of size less than

0.50 mm and intensity less than 1 mm/h

6. Glaze – when rain or drizzle comes in contact with cold ground at

around 0 ˚C, the water drops freeze to form ice coating called
glaze or freezing rain
Mechanisms for air lifting
1. Frontal lifting
2. Orographic lifting
3. Convective lifting
Definitions
1. Air mass : A large body of air with similar temperature and moisture
characteristics over its horizontal extent.

2. Front: Boundary between contrasting air masses

3. Cold front: Leading edge of the cold air when it is advancing

towards warm air

4. Warm front: leading edge of the warm air when advancing towards
cold air
Frontal Lifting

• Boundary between air masses with different properties is called a

front
• Cold front occurs when cold air advances towards warm air
• Warm front occurs when warm air overrides cold air

Cold front (produces cumulus cloud) Warm front (produces stratus cloud)
Orographic lifting
• Orographic uplift occurs when air is forced to rise because of the
physical presence of elevated land
Convective lifting
• Convective precipitation occurs when the air near the ground is
heated by the earth’s warm surface. This warm air rises, cools
and creates precipitation
Precipitation Variation
Influenced by:
– Atmospheric circulation and local factors
a) Higher near coastlines
b) Seasonal variation – annual oscillations in some places
c) Variables in mountainous areas
d) Increases in plains areas
Global precipitation pattern
Measurement of precipitation
 Precipitation is expressed in terms of depth to which
rainfall water would stand on an area if all the rain
were collected on it
 Rainfall at a place can be measured by a rain gauge.
The rain gauge may be broadly classified into two
types:
1. Non-recording type rain gauge
2. Recording type rain gauge.
Non-recording type rain gauge

 The Symon rain gauge consists of a cylindrical vessel, called metal

casing, of 12.7 cm diameter, with a base of 21.0cm. The metal casing
is fixed vertically to a masonry foundation block of the size 60 cm x 60
cm x 60 cm. A funnel with a circular rim of 12.7 cm and a glass bottle
are placed in the metal casing.
Symon rain gauge
The height of the metal casing is fixed so that the rim is 30.5 cm above
the ground surface

The glass bottle, called the receiver, is of 7.5 to 10 cm diameter. The

rain gauge is kept in open

The rain falling into the funnel is collected in the receiver

The receiver, with the rain water in it, is taken out of the metal casing
 Symon rain gauge
The rainfall depth is measured with a special measuring glass jar
graduated in mm of rainfall.

It can measure up to 12.5 mm of rainfall.

During heavy rains, the rainfall is measured 3 or 4 times in a day.

The total rainfall of the day is obtained by adding all the individual
measurements of day
 Site for a Rain Gauge Station
1. The site should be in an open space having an area of at least
5.5 m x 5.5 m
2. The distance of the instrument from the nearest obstruction
should not be less than 30 m or twice the height of the
obstruction
3. A site that is sheltered from high winds should be chosen
4. The rain gauge, as far as possible, should not be installed on the
top or the side of the hill. If unavoidable, the site which is best
protected from high winds should be chosen
 Site for a Rain Gauge Station
5. A fence should be erected around the rain gauge station to protect the
gauge from cattle, dogs, etc. However, the distance of the fence
should not be less than twice its height

6. The gauge must always be mounted firmly so that it cannot be disturbed

even by the strongest wind in that region

7. The gauge should be set as near the ground surface as possible to reduce
wind effects. But at the same time, it should be sufficiently high to
prevent splashing of surface water into it

8. The gauge should have a level horizontal catch surface

Recording type rain gauge
• The recording type rain gauges have recording arrangement, which
gives the rainfall intensity and the duration of the rainfall,
besides giving the total depth of the rainfall

• These rain gauges are, therefore, more useful than the non-recording
type rain gauges
1. Tipping bucket rain gauge

2. Weighing bucket rain gauge

3. Float-type rain gauge
 Tipping bucket rain gauge
The tipping bucket rain gauge consists of two small buckets placed below the funnel fitted
in a 30 cm diameter receiver
 The buckets are balanced in an unstable equilibrium about a horizontal axis such that at
one time only one bucket remains below the funnel.
 One bucket is always higher than the other. As the rainfall is collected by the receiver, it
passes through the funnel to the higher bucket
 After a certain small amount of rainfall (usually 0.25 mm) is received by the higher
bucket, it becomes unstable and tips to empty itself into a measuring tube placed
below it
 At the same time, the other bucket comes to the higher position and starts colleting the
rainfall
 Tipping bucket rain gauge
 The tipping of the bucket actuates an electric circuit, which causes a pen
to make a mark on a chart wrapped around a drum revolved by a clock-
driven mechanism

 Thus each mark on the chart corresponds to a rainfall of 0.25 mm

 By counting the number of marks and noting the time, the intensity and
amount of the rainfall can be determined
Tipping bucket rain gauge
 Weighing Bucket Rain Gauge
 The rain is collected by a weighing bucket through a funnel
 The bucket rests on a weighing platform of a spring or lever balance attached to a
weighing mechanism
 As the bucket is filled with rain water, its weight increases and the weighing
platform moves downwards
 The movement of the weighing platform is transmitted to a pen through a system
of links and levers
 The pen makes a trace of the accumulated amount of rainfall on a chart attached
to a drum revolved by a clock driven mechanism
 The record is continuous and is in the form of the conventional mass curve
 Weighing Bucket Rain Gauge
 The record is continuous and is in the form of the conventional mass curve

 The rotation of the drum sets the time scale whereas the vertical motion of
the pen records the cumulative rainfall

 The slope of the mass curve at any point gives the intensity of the rainfall
 Float type rain gauge
 In the float-type gauge, the precipitation falling on the receiver passes
through the funnel and filter and is collected in a float chamber

 The filter prevents dust, debris, etc, from entering the float chamber

 The float chamber contains a float with a vertical stem fixed over it

 A pen is mounted on the top of the vertical stem

 As the rain is collected in the float chamber, the float rises and the pen
moves on a chart fixed on a drum revolved by a clockdriven
mechanism
 Float type rain gauge
 The pen thus marks a trace of the cumulative depth of rainfall on the chart
 The record is in the form of the conventional mass curve, from which the
intensity and duration of rainfall can be determined