HYDROLOGIC

CYCLE
Josept D. Revuelta Acosta, Ph.D.
What is hydrologic cycle?
It is a natural sequence
through which water passes
into the atmosphere as water
vapor, precipitates to earth in
liquid or solid form, and
ultimately returns to the
atmosphere through
evapotranspiration.
 Where does the hydrologic
cycle take place?
A watershed is defined as any surface area from which runoff resulting from rainfall
is collected and drained through a common point.

A watershed may be only

a few hectares as in small
ponds or hundreds of
square kilometers as in
rivers. All watersheds can
be divided into smaller
sub-watersheds
Watershed's components
Hydrologic Units - US
Hydrologic Units - Mexico
Hydrologic Units - Mexico

Where are we at?

 Hydrologic systems
The global circulation cycle can be represented as a system containing three
subsystems: the atmospheric water system, the surface water system, and the
subsurface water system.
 Watershed delineation

We need:

1. A Digital Elevation Model (DEM).

2. A Geographical Information System Software
(ArcGIS, QGIS, GRASS GIS, etc.)
3. The outlet geographical coordinates (latitude,
longitude).
 Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
USGS Digital elevation models (DEMs) are arrays of regularly spaced elevation values
referenced horizontally either to a Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection or to
a geographic coordinate system. The grid cells are spaced at regular intervals along
south to north profiles that are ordered from west to east.

United States:
https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/
https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search
https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/basic/#productSearch

Mexico:
https://www.inegi.org.mx/app/geo2/elevacionesmex/

Others:
https://search.asf.alaska.edu/#/
A Geographical Information
System Software
A geographic information system (GIS) is a system
that creates, manages, analyzes, and maps all
types of data. GIS connects data to a map,
integrating location data (where things are) with
all types of descriptive information (what things
are like there) (ESRI, 2022).
 THANKS.
“Focus on doing the right things instead of a bunch
of things.” – Mike Krieger