MHSE02: Climatology and Hydrology

Part II: Hydrology

PD Dr. Thomas Wöhling

Lecture 1
Institute of Hydrology and Meteorology
Chair of Hydrology
https://tu-dresden.de/bu/umwelt/hydro/ihm/hydrologie
https://twitter.com/Hydrologie_TUD

PD Dr. habil. Thomas Wöhling

Bergstraße 66, room 360,
Phone: +49 351 463 34326
thomas.woehling@tu-dresden.de

https://bildungsportal.sachsen.de/opal
 lecture notes
 exercises
 literature, glossary

1 Introduction 2 Global Hydrologic Cycle 3 Water Balance 4 Catchment 5 Description of Hydrological Processes 2
6 Precipitation 7 Runoff 8 Evapotranspiration 9 Regional Aspects of Hydrology
Access
PW:
1 Introduction 2 Global Hydrologic Cycle 3 Water Balance 4 Catchment 5 Description of Hydrological Processes 3
6 Precipitation 7 Runoff 8 Evapotranspiration 9 Regional Aspects of Hydrology
HSE Hydrology - Course Outline

- Part of module MHSE02, Climatology and Hydrology (5 credit points)

- 15 lectures / seminars / exercises
- New years break: 21.12.2023 – 03.01.2024
- Main exam period: 05.02.2024 – 02.03.2024

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Course Outline

1) Knowledge: hydrological principles, processes and

fundamental hydrological techniques

 The hydrological cycle and the coupling to the energy cycle

 The water balance and its main components
 Hydrological processes and scales
 Hydrological data acquisition and analysis
 Human impact on water resources
 Specific hydrological situation of different regions

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Course Outline

Rainfall [mm]
2) Competences
basic hydrological engineering
tasks, e.g. for design and Duration [h]
operation of reservoirs:
 Catchment delineation
 Areal precipitation
 Storm rainfall estimation

p [-]
(DDF)
 Flood frequency estimation
(design floods) Q [m³/s]

 Direct runoff (SCS-CN)

 Catchment water balance

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Course Outline

3) Presentations
 Own experience
 Topical issues

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Course Outline - Contents

1. Introduction
2. The global hydrological cycle
3. The water balance equation (HW)
4. The catchment (E1)
5. Description of hydrological processes
(processes, modelling concepts, scales)
6. Precipitation
(formation, measurement, analysis & correction, areal estimation (E2),
extremes (E3), snow & snowmelt)
7. Runoff
(measurement, hydrograph analysis (E4), floods & droughts, components (E5)
8. Evapotranspiration
(evaporation, transpiration, interception, measurement & estimation)

9. Regional aspects of hydrology

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Literature

Books:
Brutsaert W. (2005/23): Hydrology – An Introduction,
Cambridge University Press.
Dingman S. L., (2008/2014): Physical Hydrology,
Waveland Press.
Herschy R. W. (1999): Hydrometry Principles and
Practices, Wiley & Sons.
Maidment D. R. (1992): Handbook of Hydrology,
McGraw- Hill.

Online Sources:
Shaw (1994): Hydrology in Practice
Chow et al. (1988): Applied Hydrology

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1. Introduction

Hydrology

is the scientific study

of the movement,
distribution, and
quality of
water on Earth.

thinglink.com

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1. Introduction
2000 UN Millenium Summit, New York: Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Target 7.C:
Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the
population without sustainable access to safe
drinking water & basic sanitation (1990)

Drinking water: 76 → 88%

Sanitation: 54 → 77%

2015 Summit: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Target 6.1
By 2030, achieve universal and
equitable access to safe and
affordable drinking water for all

Target 6.2
By 2030, achieve access to
adequate and equitable sanitation
and hygiene for all
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1. Introduction

2015 – Access to safe drinking water

(source: UN)

663 Million people still lacked improved drinking water sources

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1. Introduction

2020 – (No) access to safe drinking water

(source: Statistica)

772 million people around the world still lack even basic access
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1. Introduction

2015 – Access to basic sanitation

(source: UN)

2.4 billion people still lacked improved sanitation facilities

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1. Introduction

2020 – (No) access to adequate sanitation

(source: Statistica)

22 % still lacked basic sanitation services.

46 % of the world’s population did not have access to proper sewage treatment

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1. Introduction

 Food security

earthtimes.org

Grist.org

act-global.org
trust.org

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1. Introduction

 Flood protection

wikipedia

wordpress.com reddit.com

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1. Introduction

 Water Resources Management

ufz.de

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1. Introduction

 Global water demand

water

population

12%
19%

69%

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1. Introduction

 Global water footprint

Germany:
1385 m³/yr

USA: 2842 m³/yr

 direct water use: water consumption by an individual

 + indirect water use: water used, polluted or evapo(transpi)rated for the
fabrication of consumed goods
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1. Introduction

 Poor water quality and lack of sanitation are among the primary
causes of death and disease
 Social and economic development, human health,
global food security and the environment are impaired by:
 Scarcity of water
 Floods and droughts
 Poverty
 Pollution
 Inadequate treatment of waste
 Lack of infrastructure

Hydrological science plays a central role

to address these challenges
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Scope of Hydrology

Hydrology is primarily concerned with quantifying (parts of) the

water cycle that take place at or near the land surface
 hydrological processes are non-stationary

 hydrological processes are interconnected and linked to other natural

systems

Hydrology follows the scientific method:

Observe to understand … to describe and to predict

Two physical laws are of fundamental importance for the movement

of water on the land surface and in soils/aquifers:
 Conservation of mass

 Conservation of energy
These laws together with other laws and/ or empirical
relationships form the basis for hydrological models

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Work Areas of Hydrology

 Research on interaction of hydrological processes with chemical, physical

and biological processes
 Systematic analysis of hydrological phenomena in order to advance hydrological
theory and hydrological methods
 Climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies
 Processes in the soil-vegetation-atmosphere-system
 Integrated Water Resources Management
 Engineering tasks
 Planning and design of dams / reservoirs
 Flood protection / forecasting
 Water availability (budget) / crop water requirements
 Delineating drinking water protection zones, …
 Measurement and analysis of hydrological processes
 Acquisition and analysis of hydrological data
 Design of measurement networks
 Identification of suitable modelling concepts and their formulation

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2. The global hydrological cycle

Driving forces of the global hydrological cycle:

 Solar energy and gravity

 sun provides energy that causes evaporation and mixing in the

atmosphere → thus drives hydrological cycle against gravity

Linkages:
 hydrological cycle is closely linked to the heat balance of the planet

(transport of energy by evaporation and condensation)

and interconnected with other transport cycles (C, N, ..)

Dynamics:
 Hydrological processes are highly variable in space and time

 local and regional differences

 gradients between regions drive the dynamics of the hydrologic cycle
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2. The global hydrological cycle

Components and processes of the hydrological cycle

Source: PhysicalGeography.net

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2. The global hydrological cycle

2022
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2. The global hydrological cycle

GETFLOWS, Geosphere Environmental Technology Corporation

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2. The global hydrological cycle

Significance of global
considerations
 Analysis and assessment of
human activities on a global
scale, e. g. impacts of climate primary
change, land cover change, … Example: forest
changes from pristine
ecosystems to
Natural pollution control intensive land use
 Transport of nutrients and
contaminants by water
 Distillation in the atmosphere
pastures
 Physical filtering, chemical and
biological transformation
crops
processes in soils and surface
waters
(modified from Buringh & Dudal )
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2. The global hydrological cycle
Global water resources

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2. The global hydrological cycle
Global water resources

 Total volume:
= 1368 x 106 km³
 liquid: ca. 98.233%
 solid: ca. 1.766%
 vapour: ca. 0.001%

 Freshwater (2.5%) = 35 x 106 km³

 ice and snow 69%
 subsurface water 30%
 surface water <1%

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2. The global hydrological cycle
Water reservoirs: residence times

Atmosphere
9?d
Glaciers &
ice caps
?5 a
~ 10

Soils Surface
water
~ 1/2
? a 0.3 - 80 a
Oceans
3 200
? a
Groundwater
100 -10
? 000 a

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2. The global hydrological cycle

Watch the NASA | Earth‘s Water Cycle video on youtube:

https://youtu.be/oaDkph9yQBs

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2. The global hydrological cycle
Mechanisms linking water and energy cycles

 Snow cover of the land surface

(up to 50%) and oceans (~10%)
reflects radiation (global
albedo)

 Damping of temperature
variations by freezing and
melting of ice

 Transport of energy by oceans, wikipedia.org

exchange of energy between

surface and deep sea water:
“ocean conveyer belt”

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2. The global hydrological cycle
The global ocean conveyer belt
 Origin: North Atlantic,
near the pole

 Low temperature

 Density increases:
water gets saltier (sea
ice formation)

 Cold, dense water sinks

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education
to ocean bottom

 Surface water moves to

replace sinking water

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2. The global hydrological cycle
The global ocean conveyer belt
 Deep water moves
south

 Travels around the

edges of Antarctica

 Water cools and sinks

again: conveyer belt
gets “recharged”

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education

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2. The global hydrological cycle
The global ocean conveyer belt
 2 sections split off and
move north:
 Indian Ocean
 Pacific
 Water warms up, gets
less dense & raises to
the surface (upwelling)

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education

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2. The global hydrological cycle
The global ocean conveyer belt
 Warm currents loop
back southward and
westward

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education

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2. The global hydrological cycle
The global ocean conveyer belt
 Warm surface water
continue to circulate
the globe

 Eventually return to the

North Atlantic

 Cycle begins again

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education

 Velocity: few cm/sec (loop: ~ 1000 yrs)

 Link between water and energy cycles
 Vital component of the global ocean nutrient and carbon dioxide
cycles (surface: nutrient/CO2 depleted; deep: nutrient/CO2 rich)
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2. The global hydrological cycle
Watch the video on the ocean conveyor belt on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3niR_-Kv4SM

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Summary

1. Introduction
 water related to solving main challenges of humanity

2. The global hydrological cycle

 driving forces: solar energy and gravity
 hydrological processes non-stationary and highly variable
 different compartments with different residence times
 close linkage to energy and matter cycles

Outlook
3. The water balance equation

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