HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
Phase 1: Hydrology and the Hydrologic Cycle
Hydrology and the Hydrologic Cycle
“We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle
are one.”
-Jacques Yves Cousteau
⬧ Hydrology
• means the science of water.
• It is an extremely important field of study,
dealing with one of the most valuable
resources on Earth: water.
 All aspects of the Earth’s available
water are studied by experts from
many disciplines, from geologists to
engineers, to obtain the information
needed to manage this vital resource.
⬧ Hydrologists
• rely on their understanding of how water
interacts with its environment, including
how it moves from the Earth’s surface, to
the atmosphere, and then back to Earth.
 This never-ending movement is called
the hydrologic cycle, or the water
cycle.
Difference Between Hydrology and
Hydraulics
⬧ Hydrology
• is the scientific study of the waters of the
earth, with a particular focus on how
rainfall and evaporation affect the flow of
water in streams and storm drains.
⬧ Hydraulics
• is the engineering analysis of the flow of
water in channels, pipelines, and other
hydraulic structures.
How do civil engineers use hydrology in land
development?
⬧ In land development, hydrology typically
refers to the rate of precipitation, quantity of
water, rate of surface runoff, and timing of its
arrival at a point of interest (the project site).
⬧ Any development activity will change the flow
of water on a site. If you clear cut a parcel of
land, rainfall is more likely to run off the site
rather than be absorbed by grass and trees. If
left unmanaged, this newly created runoff can
negatively affect neighboring parcels. To
combat this domino effect, local development
authorities (city, county, state, etc.) require
site designs to meet certain water-related
criteria – namely that the site design will not
negatively affect nearby sites through
increased runoff.
⬧ Engineers use hydrology to provide reports
detailing the surface water flow changes that
are anticipated with the proposed site design.
The goal is typically to determine if the post-
development storm water flow is equal to or
greater than the pre-development storm
water flow. Engineers use data related to
precipitation, drainage basin sizes and land
covers, soil type(s), appropriate runoff
coefficient(s), conveyance elevation and
geometry, etc. to determine this information. A
drainage report is typically required in
support of the storm water management plan
for a proposed project.
⬧ Once this data is compiled, the engineer
moves on to the hydraulic design of any
storm water systems needed to manage the
difference in water flow that the proposed
development would cause.
How do civil engineers use hydraulics in land
development?
⬧ In land development, hydraulic analysis is
used after the hydrology reporting process in
order to design storm water conveyance
networks, calculate the depth of flow in pipes,
and determine open channel flow in ditches
and swales. This is often referred to as “storm
water management design.”
⬧ Once the difference between pre-
development storm water flow and post-
development storm water flow is determined,
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
civil engineers use hydraulics to design storm
water management systems to account for the
difference to minimize a development’s effect
on neighboring sites. These systems, both
pipes and open channels, are designed to
accommodate all intercepted water flow from
rainfall events. A typical project includes the
design of many hydraulic components, such
as pipe sizes, pipe alignments, flow line
elevations, end treatments, inlet and outlet
protection, channel geometry, and channel
slope, to name a few.
Hydrology helps assess all possible conditions of a
proposed development during multiple
environmental scenarios. Hydraulics is then used
to design appropriate systems to mitigate any
changes from the site’s pre- development state.
The Hydrologic Cycle and the Human Impact
⬧ Human activities can influence the
hydrologic cycle in many other ways. The
volumes and timing of river flows can be
greatly affected by channeling to decrease the
impediments to flow, and by changing the
character of the watershed by paving,
compacting soils, and altering the nature of
the vegetation. Risks of flooding can be
increased by speeding the rate at which water
is shed from the land, thereby increasing the
magnitude of peak flows. Risks of flooding are
also increased if erosion of soils from
terrestrial parts of the watershed leads to
siltation and the development of shallower
river channels, which then fill up and spill
over during high-flow periods. Massive
increases in erosion are often associated with
deforestation, especially when natural forests
are converted into agriculture.
Hydroelectricity
⬧ This involves changing the stored
gravitational energy of water held behind the
dam into electrical energy that can be used.
While this is a non-polluting renewable way
to generate electricity, it does have
environmental impacts – especially when
mismanaged.
⬧ Rivers must be dammed, which can affect the
function of the river both upstream and
downstream – lakes are usually formed from
the water accumulating above the dam and a
build-up of silt can occur, while the amount of
water is reduced further downstream. This can
be problematic for any plants and animals
that may find themselves with too much or
too little water, and migrating fish cannot get
through the dams.
⬧ Seriously mismanaged dams can result in
droughts downstream, with smaller streams
completely drying up, leaving areas of un-
watered land. People then have to look at
ways of getting more water into these dry
areas.
Clyde hydro dam
The Clyde dam in the South Island uses water to
generate electricity. It is New Zealand’s third largest
hydro dam.
Irrigation
⬧ As the human population has increased, so
have our demands on the land. We need more
food, and to make food, we need water.
Irrigation is the artificial watering of land
that does not get enough water through
rainfall. Irrigation is used substantially by
most countries, some more than others. Arid
(dry) lands require far more water, as do
countries that have large intensive farming
communities.
⬧ The problem with irrigation is that it removes
water from its natural source and often causes
leaching and run-off where it is used. This
removal of nutrients results in farmers using
more fertilizers to keep their pastures
productive while the waterways become
polluted. Another problem is that salt is
brought up from lower levels (salination).
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
Spray irrigator
Irrigation is a method used to water farm land.
Unfortunately, it removes water from rivers and can
cause surface.
run-off and leaching.
Deforestation
⬧ The removal of trees is having a major impact
on the water cycle, as local and global
climates change.
⬧ Normally, trees release water vapor when
they transpire, producing a localized
humidity. This water vapor then evaporates
into the atmosphere where it accumulates
before precipitating back to the Earth as rain,
sleet or snow. Deforestation in one area can
therefore affect the weather in another area
because if trees are cut down, there is less
water to be evaporated into the atmosphere
and subsequently less rain.
⬧ At a local level, the land becomes drier and
less stable. When it rains, instead of the water
being soaked up, there is increased run-off
and leaching. Areas can become more prone
to both droughts and flooding, impacting on
plants and animals, and also humans living
near deforested areas.
Dynamic and Complex: The Global Water
Cycle
Dynamic and complex: the global water cycle
Water in the Earth system is influencing all
aspects of life on Earth. Pathways, storage,
transfers and transformations have an effect on
the global climate and human welfare.
Greenhouse effect
⬧ The greenhouse effect is a natural
phenomenon of Earth’s atmosphere trapping a
range of gases, which in turn capture infrared
radiation to keep our Earth at a moderate
temperature range compared to the other
planets in our solar system
⬧ Human activity such as the burning of fossil
fuels has an effect on the overall increase of
the Earth’s temperature. Raising the Earth’s
temperature may mean that there is an
increase of evaporation, melting of ice or
other processes of the water cycle that
adversely affect the climate on Earth.
Interrelationships of Phases of the Hydrologic
Cycle
Evapotranspiration
⬧ Evapotranspiration is the sum of evaporation
from the land surface plus transpiration from
plants.
⬧ The typical plant, including any found in a
landscape, absorbs water from the soil
through its roots. That water is then used for
metabolic and physiologic functions. The
water eventually is released to the
atmosphere as vapor via the plant's stomata
— tiny, closeable, pore-like structures on the
surfaces of leaves. Overall, this uptake of
water at the roots, transport of water through
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
plant tissues, and release of vapor by leaves is ⬧ Interflow, also known as subsurface runoff is
known as transpiration. relatively rapid flow toward the stream
⬧ Water also evaporates directly into the channel that occurs below the surface. It
atmosphere from soil in the vicinity of the occurs more rapidly than base flow, but
plant. Any dew or droplets of water present typically more slowly than surface runoff.
on stems and leaves of the plant eventually
Groundwater
evaporates as well. Scientists refer to the
combination of evaporation and transpiration ⬧ Ground water is water that fills pores and
as evapotranspiration, abbreviated ET. fractures in the ground, much as milk fills the
voids within bits of granola in a breakfast
Precipitation
bowl. The top of ground water is called the
⬧ Precipitation is water released from clouds in water table. Between the water table and the
the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or land surface is the unsaturated zone or
hail. It is the primary connection in the water vadose zone. In the unsaturated zone,
cycle that provides for the delivery of moisture is moving downward to the water
atmospheric water to the Earth. Most table to recharge the ground water. The water
precipitation falls as rain. table can be very close to the surface (within a
few feet), or very deep (up to several hundred
Infiltration and Percolation
feet).
⬧ Infiltration and percolation are two related
but different processes describing the
movement of moisture through soil.
Infiltration is defined as the downward entry
of water into the soil or rock surface (SSSA,
1975) and percolation is the flow of water
through soil and porous or fractured rock. In
hydrologic modeling, these two processes are
usually modeled separately. Infiltration rate is
the rate at which a soil under specified
conditions absorbs falling rain, melting snow,
or surface water expressed in depth of water
per unit time (ASCE, 1985). Percolation rate,
although more difficult to measure directly,
represents the rate at which soil moisture
moves down through the soil or permeable
rock.
Surface and Sub-Surface Run-off
⬧ Surface runoff is water from rain, snow
melting, or other sources that flows over the
land surface, and is a major component of the
water cycle. There are two types of surface
runoff that occur during rainfall or snowmelt.

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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
Phase 2: Weather Basics (Meteorology):
Atmospheric Waters
Meteorology
⬧ Meteorology
• is the science that deals with the study of
the atmosphere and its phenomena
especially with weather.
• It is a sub-discipline of the atmospheric
sciences, a term that covers all studies of
the atmosphere.
⬧ Weather
• is the condition of the atmosphere at a
particular place over a short period of time
in terms of wind, sunshine, precipitation,
temperature, visibility, clouds, pressure,
and humidity. While climate refers to the
weather pattern of a place over a long
period of time (20 to 1,000,000 years).
• It is determined by rainfall and
temperature, which are influenced by
latitude, elevation, and ocean currents
which affects where and how people live,
and what they grow and eat.
The Atmosphere
⬧ Surrounding the Earth is a gaseous envelope
or atmosphere, held in place by the planet’s
gravitational attraction. The Earth’s
atmosphere is a complex dynamical, physical,
and chemical system.
• Dynamic processes cover a large range of
scales from the microscopic-scale
dynamics of evaporation, condensation,
cloud formation and precipitation, to
small-scale, localized vertical and
horizontal wind motions, to medium-
scale cyclones, anticyclones, hurricanes,
typhoons, tornadoes, thunderstorms,
fronts, etc., to the largescale general
circulation of the atmosphere.
• Physical processes in the atmosphere
include the transfer of incoming solar
radiation through the atmosphere to the
surface, the heating of the surface, the
emission of outgoing infrared radiation,
the absorption of infrared radiation by
atmospheric gases, the evaporation of
water, the condensation of atmospheric
water vapor into clouds, and
precipitation.
• Chemical processes include the
transformation and production of
atmospheric gases, such as atmospheric
ozone, via chemical reactions involving
many dozens of gases in the atmosphere.
⬧ While the Earth’s atmosphere extends
upward for hundreds of kilometers until it
merges with interplanetary space, more than
half of the atmosphere’s total mass is below
an altitude of only about 6 kilometers (3.75
miles) above the surface.
• The lowest region of the atmosphere, the
troposphere, extends from the surface to
an altitude that varies from 10 to 15
kilometers (km) (6.2 to 9.3 miles (mi.)),
depending on latitude and season. The top
of the troposphere is called the
tropopause.
• The regions of the atmosphere above the
troposphere are:
 the stratosphere (from between 10
and 15 to 40 km (between 6.2-9.3 and
25 mi.)),
 the mesosphere (40 to 80 km (25 to
50 mi.)),
 the thermosphere (80 to 500 km (50
to 310 mi.)) and
 the exosphere (begins at about 500
km (310 mi.)). The exosphere merges
with interplanetary space.
 The ionosphere is the region of
atmosphere between 40 and 300 km
(25 and 185 mi.). It is the region of
positively-charged atoms and molecules
and negatively-charged electrons.
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
Composition
⬧ The Earth’s atmosphere is a complex mixture
of gases:
• nitrogen (N2) (about 78% by volume),
• oxygen (O2) (about 21% by volume) and
• argon (Ar) (about 0.9% by volume) with
• small and varying amounts of water vapor
(H2O) (0 to 4% by volume) and still
smaller amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2),
methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O),
ozone (O3) and dozens of other gases at
still smaller concentrations. The chemical
composition of the atmosphere is given
below.
Concentration units: % or parts per million by
volume (ppmv) (1 ppmv = 0.0001%)
Highly variable.
The mean molecular mass of dry air is 28.97
atomic mass units or Dalton.
⬧ The protection afforded by the atmosphere is
very important for life on Earth. The
atmosphere shields the Earth’s surface and
its myriad forms of life from biologically
damaging high-energy cosmic radiation. In
addition, ozone, found mostly in the
stratosphere, absorbs ultraviolet radiation
from the Sun, shielding the Earth’s surface
from this biologically damaging radiation.
General Characteristics
⬧ Atmospheric pressure is a measure of the
force exerted by the mass of atmosphere on the
surface at a given location. The average
pressure of the atmosphere at mean sea level
is about 1 kg per square cm, which is
equivalent to about 14.7 pounds per square
inch or a pressure of 1013.25 millibars (mb),
and which is also referred to as 1
atmosphere. Atmospheric pressure is
measured with a barometer.
⬧ Humidity is a general term that refers to the
water vapor content of the air. Absolute
humidity is the actual amount of water vapor
per volume of air. Relative humidity is the
percentage of water vapor in the atmosphere
compared with the maximum amount of
water vapor that the atmosphere could
contain at that temperature. The dew point of
a given parcel of air is the temperature to
which the parcel must be cooled, at constant
pressure, for the water vapor component to
condense. Humidity is measured with a
psychrometer.
⬧ Wind speed is measured with a 4-cup
anemometer and wind direction is measured
with a weather vane. Winds are named after
the direction from which they flow. For
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example, the northeast trade winds flow in a
southward direction from the northeast. The
amount of cloud cover is estimated either
visually or photo graphically. The amount of
precipitation is measured with a rain gauge.
Stability
⬧ We can think of air stability as the tendency
for air to rise or fall through the atmosphere
under its own "power". Stable air has a
tendency to resist movement. On the other
hand, unstable air will easily rise. What gives
air "power" to rise? The tendency for air to
rise or fall depends on the adiabatic and
environmental lapse rates.
⬧ How to determine atmospheric stability?
• Imagine a ball in water:
 When does it rise? When it is lighter
than environment, it will rise.
 When does it sink? When it is heavier
than environment, it will sink.
⬧ Same is true with air parcels.
• Temperature determines the density of an
air parcel at a given pressure.
• To determine an air parcel temperature or
the rising of air parcels and its adiabatic
cooling, consider a rising parcel of air as
shown:
• As the parcel rises, it will adiabatically
expand and cool.
 adiabatic - a process where the parcel
temperature changes due to an
expansion or compression, no heat is
added or taken away from the parcel.
• Lapse rate (0C/km) - rate of temperature
change with height.
 Dry-adiabatic lapse rate -
unsaturated parcels cool at a rate of
10°C/km. This is called the dry-
adiabatic lapse rate.
• Moist Adiabatic Lapse Rate - for a
saturated parcel of air, it cools at the
moist adiabatic lapse rate = 6°C/km.
Introduction of Cloud Physics
⬧ Cloud physics
• is the microscale study of processes that
govern all cloud and precipitation
processes.
• A cloud is aggregate of tiny water droplets
or ice crystals suspended in the air. Some
are found only at high elevations whereas
others nearly touch the ground. They can
be thick or thin, big or little and exist in a
seemingly endless variety of forms.
➢ Nucleation
o Nucleation
 is the initial process that occurs in the
formation of a crystal from a solution, a
liquid, or a vapor, in which a small
number of ions, atoms, or molecules
become arranged in a pattern
characteristic of a crystalline solid,
forming a site upon which additional
particles are deposited as the crystal
grows.
o Homogeneous nucleation
 (Condensation of pure water with no
dust or aerosols present) requires a
relative humidity of 400 – 500%.
Though this can be achieved in a
laboratory, such high relative humidity
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
does not occur in the atmosphere.
Therefore, homogeneous nucleation
cannot explain the initial formation of
cloud droplets.
o Heterogeneous nucleation
 occurs much more often than
homogeneous nucleation.
Heterogeneous nucleation applies to
the phase transformation between any
two phases of gas, liquid, or solid,
typically for example, condensation of
gas/vapor, solidification from liquid,
bubble formation from liquid, etc.
➢ Growth and Distribution
• The continued growth of a cloud droplet,
once condensation has started, is initially
governed by the diffusion of the water
vapor molecules toward the droplet.
Diffusion is the process of molecules
moving from regions of higher
concentrations to regions of lower
concentrations. At the surface of a droplet,
water vapor is simultaneously condensing
and evaporating. When the concentration
of water vapor molecules is higher some
distance from the droplet than it is at the
droplet surface, the water vapor in the air
diffuses toward the droplet, condenses
onto the droplet, and the net effect is
droplet growth. The rate of growth of the
droplet depends on two things:
1. The gradient in vapor concentration from
the surface of the droplet to the ambient
environment the presence of super
saturation, i. e., a relative humidity H
greater than the equilibrium relative
humidity H of the droplet. Diffusional
growth gives narrow size distribution.
2. The surface area 4πr2
Solar Radiation and Earth’s Energy Balance
⬧ To a large extent, the temperature of the
Earth’s surface is determined by the amount
of radiation received from the Sun. Most of the
incoming radiation from the Sun is in the
form of visible radiation.
⬧ The atmosphere is mostly transparent to
incoming solar radiation, i.e., this radiation is
not absorbed by gases in the atmosphere, with
the notable exception of solar ultraviolet
radiation, which is absorbed by ozone mostly
located in the stratosphere. However, some of
the incoming solar radiation is reflected back
to space by clouds, by ice and snow at the
poles, and by desert areas as shown. The
surface of the Earth is heated by the
absorption of incoming solar radiation and
reaches a mean global temperature of about –
18 °C (0 °F). Once heated to the mean
temperature, the Earth emits radiation in the
form of “long-wavelength,” or infrared,
radiation back to space. Unlike incoming
solar radiation, which is not strongly
absorbed by atmospheric gases and passes
through the atmosphere to the surface,
outgoing infrared radiation is strongly
absorbed by several different atmospheric
gases, including carbon dioxide, water vapor,
methane, nitrous oxide and ozone.
⬧ Immediately after being absorbed by these
atmospheric gases, the infrared radiation is
quickly reemitted or released back to the
atmosphere in both the upward and
downward directions. The downward
component of the re-emitted infrared
radiation strikes the surface and causes
additional heating, increasing the mean
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
temperature of the Earth to about 15 °C (59
°F). This additional heating is called the
“greenhouse effect” and the gases that
absorb and then reemit infrared gases are
called “greenhouse gases.” Measurements
show that atmospheric concentrations of
greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane
and nitrous oxide — are increasing with time
most probably due to human activities.
Atmospheric concentrations of water vapor
will increase as the temperature of the
atmosphere increases. The buildup of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has led
to national and international concern about
global warming and its accompanying
environmental consequences.
General Circulation
⬧ Due to the curvature of the Earth (the Earth’s
spherecity), the Sun’s rays are spread over a
larger and larger area the further the latitude
from the equator. Therefore, the sunlight is
less concentrated than at latitudes nearer the
equator and less solar heating takes place.
This is why the Earth’s equatorial regions are
hot and the polar regions are cold. The
atmosphere and ocean redistribute the excess
solar energy from the equatorial regions to
the polar regions via their circulation. Hence,
the solar-heated air at the equator rises and
then moves poleward at high altitudes in both
hemispheres. This causes a surface low-
pressure area at the equator. The low-
pressure area between 5° N and 5° S is called
the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITC).
At about 30° N and 30° S of the equator, some
of the high-altitude poleward-moving heated
air begins to cool, which causes it to descend
to the surface, creating high pressure areas at
the surface.
⬧ The descending air sets up surface wind
patterns that flow away from these high-
pressure systems towards the poles and the
equator in both hemispheres. As air flows
from regions of high pressure to regions of low
pressure, it is deflected to the right (in the
northern hemisphere) and to the left (in the
southern hemisphere) by the Earth’s rotation.
This is known as the Coriolis Effect. Thus, in
the northern hemisphere, the surface air
flowing equatorward is turned toward the
southwest. These winds are called the
northeast trade winds because they blow
from the northeast (toward the southwest). In
the southern hemisphere, the surface air
flowing equatorward is turned toward the
northwest. These winds are called the
southeast trade winds because they blow
from the southeast (toward the northeast). In
both the northern and southern hemispheres,
the poleward surface flow gets directed by
the Coriolis effect, resulting in westerly or
prevailing westerly winds. The general flow
of the atmosphere begins to get more
complicated poleward of 30° in both
hemispheres due to the presence of fronts
and the high-altitude jet stream. In the
northern hemisphere, the flow of the
prevailing westerlies is further disturbed by
the presence of land masses. Weather,
particularly poleward of 30°, is also impacted
by dissimilar and interacting large air masses
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
forming fronts and surface cyclones and
anticyclones.
Thermal Circulation and Earth’s Rotation
⬧ The circulation of wind in the atmosphere is
driven by the rotation of the earth and the
incoming energy from the sun. Wind
circulates in each hemisphere in three
distinct cells which help transport energy and
heat from the equator to the poles. The winds
are driven by the energy from the sun at the
surface as warm air rises and colder air sinks.
⬧ The circulation cell closest to the equator is
called the Hadley cell. Winds are light at the
equator because of the weak horizontal
pressure gradients located there. The warm
surface conditions result in locally low
pressure. The warm air rises at the equator
producing clouds and causing instability in
the atmosphere. This instability causes
thunderstorms to develop and release large
amounts of latent heat. Latent heat is just
energy released by the storms due to changes
from water vapor to liquid water droplets as
the vapor condenses in the clouds, causing
the surrounding air to become more warm
and moist, which essentially provides the
energy to drive the Hadley cell.
⬧ The Hadley Cell encompasses latitudes from
the equator to about 30°. At this latitude
surface high pressure causes the air near the
ground to diverge. This forces air to come
down from aloft to "fill in" for the air that is
diverging away from the surface high
pressure. The air flowing northward from the
equator high up in the atmosphere is warm
and moist compared to the air nearer the
poles. This causes a strong temperature
gradient between the two different air
masses and a jet stream result. At the 30°
latitudes, this jet is known as the subtropical
jet stream which flows from west to east in
both the Northern and Southern
Hemispheres. Clear skies generally prevail
throughout the surface high pressure, which
is where many of the deserts are located in
the world.
Temperature: Geographic Distribution
⬧ Distribution of temperature varies both
horizontally and vertically.
A. Horizontal Distribution of
Temperature
• Distribution of temperature across the
latitudes over the surface of the earth is
called its horizontal distribution. On
maps, the horizontal distribution of
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
temperature is commonly shown by quick radiation of heat from the
isotherms. Isotherms are line connecting earth’s surface, as well as from the
points that have an equal temperature. lower layers of the atmosphere.
✓ This results in the cooling of the air
near the earth’s surface. The upper
layers which lose their heat not so
quickly are comparatively warm.
✓ Hence the normal condition, in
which temperature decreases with
increasing height, is reversed. The
cooler air is nearer the earth and
the warmer air is aloft.
• When we analyze an isotherm map, it can
be seen that the horizontal distribution of Humidity
temperature is uneven.
⬧ is the amount of water vapor in the air. It
 The factors responsible for the uneven indicates the likelihood of precipitation, dew,
horizontal distribution of temperature or fog. Higher humidity reduces the
are: effectiveness of sweating in cooling the body
1. Latitude by reducing the rate of evaporation of
2. Altitude moisture from the skin.
3. Land and Sea Contrast ❖ Measurement
4. Ocean Currents
 Humidity measurements at the Earth’s
5. Air Masses
surface are required for
6. Vegetation Cover
meteorological analysis and
B. Vertical Distribution of Temperature
forecasting, for climate studies, and for
• The temperature in the troposphere
many special applications in
decreases with an increase in the altitude.
hydrology, agriculture, aeronautical
This vertical gradient of temperature is
services and environmental studies, in
commonly referred to as the standard
general. General requirements for the
atmosphere or Normal Lapse Rate.
range, resolution, and accuracy of
However, this normal lapse rate varies
humidity measurements are given in
with height, season, latitude and other
table.
factors.
 Inversion of Temperature: Wlt-bulb Relative Dew-point
Requirement
Temperature Humidity Tempereature
✓ The phenomenon in which At least 50 K
temperature increases with Range -10 to 35 °C
5-100% in the
increasing altitude temporarily Range -60 to
35 °C
and locally under certain ±0.1 K high ±1% high ±0.1 K high
conditions is known as inversion of Target RH RH RH
temperature. accuracy (1) ±0.2 k mid ±5% mid ±0.5 K mid
RH RH RH
✓ Inversion is usually of short
Achievable
duration but quite common observing ±0.2 K ±3-5% (3) ±0.5 K (3)
nonetheless. accuracy (2)
✓ Long winter night, clear sky, dry
air and absence of winds leads to
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
Reporting Phase 3: Important Phases of Hydrologic Cycle
code ±.1 K ±1% ±0.1 K Hydrology
resolution
Sensor time Precipitation: Occurrence and Measurement
20 s 40 s 20 s
constant (4)
Output ⬧ Precipitation
averaging 60 s 60 s 60
time (5) • is water released from clouds in the form of
rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hail. It is
the primary connection in the water cycle
1. Hygrometers - Instrument for measuring that provides for the delivery of
humidity is known as a hygrometer. The atmospheric water to the Earth. Most
employing physical principles are: precipitation falls as rain.
a. Gravimetric hygrometry,
b. Condensation methods Formation
i. Chilled-mirror method (dew-or frost- ⬧ The clouds floating overhead contain water
point hygrometer) vapor and cloud droplets, which are small
ii. Heated salt-solution method (vapour drops of condensed water. These droplets are
equilibrium hygrometer, known as the way too small to fall as precipitation, but they
dew cell) are large enough to form visible clouds. Water
c. The psychrometric method is continually evaporating and condensing in
d. Sorption methods the sky. If you look closely at a cloud you can
e. Absorption of electromagnetic radiation see some parts disappearing (evaporating)
by water vapor (ultraviolet and infrared while other parts are growing
absorption hygrometers) (condensation). Most of the condensed water
2. Psychrometer in clouds does not fall as precipitation
3. Hair hygrometer because their fall speed is not large enough to
4. The chilled-mirror dew-point hygrometer overcome updrafts which support the clouds.
5. The lithium chloride heated condensation ⬧ For precipitation to happen, first tiny water
hygrometer (dew cell) droplets must condense on even tinier dust,
6. Electrical resistive and capacitive salt, or smoke particles, which act as a
hygrometers nucleus. Water droplets may grow as a result
of additional condensation of water vapor
when the particles collide. If enough
collisions occur to produce a droplet with a
fall velocity which exceeds the cloud updraft
speed, then it will fall out of the cloud as
precipitation. This is not a trivial task since
millions of cloud droplets are required to
produce a single raindrop. A more efficient
mechanism (known as the Bergeron-
Findeisen process) for producing a
precipitation-sized drop is through a process
which leads to the rapid growth of ice crystals
at the expense of the water vapor present in a

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cloud. These crystals may fall as snow, or melt
and fall as rain.
Forms (Philippine Setting)
⬧ In the Philippines, an archipelago of
thousands of islands, the climate is
generally tropical maritime, with a
relatively cool season from December to
February, when the north-east trade
winds prevail, and a hot, humid and rainy
season from May to November, when the
south-west monsoon prevails. Between
March and May, before the arrival of the
summer monsoon, the temperature
increases and reaches the highest levels of
the year, especially in the center-north
and in the interior of the larger islands:
hence, in general the coolest month (or the
least hot) is January, while the warmest is
May.
⬧ In the north of Luzon, cool air masses can
sometimes arrive from December to
March, so much so that at night the
temperature can drop to around 12/15 °C
(54/59 °F). On the southernmost
islands, close to the Equator,
temperatures are more stable, and remain
high all year round. The least rainy period
varies depending on area, and as weeks
pass it advances proceeding rom north to
south: in Legazpi (Luzon Island), rainfall
drops below 200 mm (8 in) per month
from March to May, while in Borongan
(Samar Island), this happens from July to
September.
Legazpi
⬧ Here is the average precipitation in Legazpi,
located in the south-east of the island of
Luzon.
⬧ In the rest of the Philippines, the climate
can be defined as tropical, since it is possible
to identify a dry season, which usually runs
from February to April, but in the most
sheltered areas the rains are rare even in
December and January. The dry season is
more evident in the western part (blue area),
while it's less evident, but still present, in the
central part (green area); in contrast, the
summer monsoon is generally more intense
in the western part.
⬧ In this area, the biggest cities of the
Philippines are found, starting from the
capital, Manila.
⬧ The northernmost islands (Batanes and
Babuyan) are located far to the north, almost
at the Tropic; in winter, they are affected by
cool air masses from the Asian continent, so
the weather is pretty cool from December to
February, with average highs around 24/25
°C (75/77 °F).
Basco
⬧ Here is the average precipitation in Basco.
Types
1. Rain
• Most commonly observed, drops larger
than drizzle (0.02 inch / 0.5 mm or more)
are considered rain. However, smaller
drops are also considered raindrops if, in
contrast to drizzle, they are widely
separated.
2. Drizzle
• Fairly uniform precipitation composed
exclusively of fine drops very close together.
Drizzle appears to float while following
air currents, but unlike fog droplets, it
falls to the ground. Quite often fog and
drizzle occur together.
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
3. Ice Pellets (Sleet)
• Precipitation of transparent or translucent
pellets of ice, which are round or irregular
hard grains of ice consisting of frozen
raindrops, or largely melted then refrozen
snowflakes.
4. Hail
• Precipitation in the form of small balls or
other pieces of ice falling separately or
frozen together in irregular lumps.
Associated with thunderstorms,
individual hail stones are ¼ inch (5 mm)
or greater in diameter. Hail sizes of 1 inch
(2.5 cm) or more are indicative of severe
thunderstorms.
5. Small Hail (Snow Pellets)
• Precipitation of white, opaque grains of ice
that are round or sometimes conical.
Diameters are less than ¼ inch (5 mm).
6. Snow
• Precipitation of snow crystals that are
mostly branched and in the form of six-
pointed stars.
7. Snow Grains
• Precipitation of very small, white, and
opaque grains of ice. Basically, this is
frozen drizzle.
8. Ice Crystals
• Generally occurring in very cold regions,
they are falling crystals of ice in the form of
needles, columns, or plates. Also called
'diamond dust', ice crystals appear like fog
with individual water particles forming
directly as ice. The shape of the individual
ice crystals causes the 'light pillar' optical
effect above the light source.
Artificially Induced
⬧ It’s a practice of artificially inducing or
increasing precipitation through clouds by
adding external agents.
⬧ The foreign particles which are drenched over
these clouds can be Dry Ice (solid carbon
dioxide), Silver Iodide, Salt powder etc. This
process is known as Cloud Seeding. This
stimulation is done by aero planes or rockets.
And then finally "rain on".
How it is done?
⬧ Agitation: The first stage includes the use of
chemicals to stimulate the air mass upwind of
target area to rise and form clouds. These
chemicals absorb the water vapor and helps
in the process of condensation. Chemicals
like, Calcium Oxide, compound of Urea and
Ammonium Nitrate or Chloride Calcium
Carbonate.
⬧ Building Up Stage: In the second stage the
mass of the cloud is build up by urea, dry ice,
kitchen salt etc. to increase the density of the
clouds.
⬧ Seeding: In the final stage of pursuing the
artificial rain, super cool chemicals (dry ice or
iodide) are bombarded with the pressurized
canister onto the base of the clouds to build the
beads of water and make them fall as rain.
Gages and Networks
⬧ The simplest way to measure precipitation is
to put a rain gauge at a point on the
landscape. Almost all rain gauges have a
funnel down to an opening that then drops
water into a collection container. The amount
of water in the container is either measured
at specified intervals, or it is automatically
measured and recorded. Knowing the size of
the top of the funnel relative to the size of the
collection container lets us related the
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
volume or depth of water in the container to
the amount of rainfall.
Here’s what’s called a standard rain gauge:
⬧ Typically, the SRG is a metal cylinder with a
funnel on top and a plastic measuring tube in
the middle. The measuring tube can handle up
to 2.00 inches of rain before overflowing into
the larger outer cylinder. During the winter,
the observer removes the funnel and inner
tube and allows the snow to collect in the
outer tube. The observer then melts the snow
and measures it, getting an accurate water
equivalent to report.
⬧ The limitation of these rain gauges is that
someone has to go outside and manually
measure the water level in the gauge, so it is
difficult to get frequent (sub-daily)
measurements of rainfall. Enter the recording
rain gauges.
Radar and Satellite Estimates
⬧ Ground-based weather radar:
• Ground-based weather radars emerged
during World War II and have since been
used to observe precipitation, mostly over
land. Ground-based radars send out
pulses of microwave energy in narrow
beams that scan in a circular pattern.
When the microwave pulse encounters
precipitation particles in the atmosphere,
the energy is scattered in all directions,
sending some energy back to the radar.
These measurements are used to estimate
intensity, altitude, precipitation type (e.g.,
rain, snow, hail), and motion. Obtaining
continuous measurements of
precipitation from ground-based systems
(e.g., from rain gauges and radar systems)
presents a challenge due to large gaps
between monitoring sites on land and
huge gaps over the ocean.
⬧ Earth-observing satellites:
• Earth-observing satellites can provide
frequent estimates of precipitation at a
global scale. To do this, satellites carry
instruments designed to observe specific
atmospheric characteristics such as cloud
temperatures and precipitation particles,
or hydrometeors. These data are
extremely useful for filling in data gaps
that exist between rain gauge and ground-
based radar sites and offer insights into
when, where, and how much precipitation
is falling worldwide. Satellite data also
provide a unique vantage point. While
ground-based instruments can directly
measure or estimate how much
precipitation falls to the ground, satellite
instruments estimate the amount of
electromagnetic radiation (or energy) that
is emitted or reflected either from the
tops of the clouds or from the rain
droplets themselves, providing a top-
down view. Spaceborne radar
instruments can even observe the three-
dimensional structure of precipitation.
Such satellite observations are detailed
enough to allow scientists to distinguish
between rain, snow, and other
precipitation types, as well as observe the
structure, intensity, and dynamics of
storms.
Estimation of Missing Data
⬧ Some precipitation stations may have short
breaks in the records because of absence of
the observer or because of instrumental
failures. It is often necessary to estimate this
missing record.
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
⬧ In the procedure used by the U.S. Weather
Bureau, the missing precipitation of a station
is estimated from the observations of
precipitation at some other stations as close
to and as evenly spaced around the station
with the missing record as possible.
⬧ The station whose data is missing is called
interpolation station and gauging stations
whose data are used to calculate the missing
station data are called index stations.
⬧ Data from surrounding gauges are used to
estimate the missing data. Three approaches
are used:
1. Arithmetic mean
 Used when normal annual
precipitation is within 10% of the
gauge for which data are being
reconstructed.
2. Normal Ratio Method
Double Mass Analysis
⬧ A double-mass curve is used to check the
consistency of a rain gauge record:
1. Compute cumulative rainfall amounts for
suspect gauge and check gauges.
2. Plot cumulative rainfall amounts against
each other (divergence from a straight
line indicates error)
3. Multiplying erroneous data after change
by a correction factor k
Mean Areal Precipitation
⬧ A single point precipitation measurement
is quite often not representative of the volume
of precipitation falling over a given catchment
area. A dense network of point
measurements and/or radar estimates can
provide a better representation of the true
volume over a given area.
1. Arithmetic Mean
 This technique calculates areal
precipitation using the arithmetic
mean of all the point or areal
measurements considered in the
analysis.
2. Isohyetal Analysis Method
 This is a graphical technique which
involves drawing estimated lines of
equal rainfall over an area based on
point measurements. The magnitude
and extent of the resultant rainfall
areas of coverage are then considered
versus the area in question in order to
estimate the areal precipitation value.
3. Thiessen Polygon Weighting
 This is another graphical technique
which calculates station weights based
on the relative areas of each
measurement station in the Thiessen
polygon network. The individual
weights are multiplied by the station
observation and the values are
summed to obtain the areal average
precipitation.
4. Distance Weighting
 This is another station weighting
technique. A grid of point estimates is
made based on a distance weighting
scheme. Each observed point value is
given a unique weight for each grid
point based on the distance from the
grid point in question. The grid point
precipitation value is calculated based
on the sum of the individual station
weight multiplied by observed station
value. Once the grid points have all
been estimated they are summed and
the sum is divided by the number of
grid points to obtain the areal average
precipitation.
5. MAPX
 This is a NWS-specific gridded
technique. Areal runoff zone
precipitation estimates are made using
the 4 x 4 km WSR-88D 1-hourly gridded
precipitation estimates. The arithmetic
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HYDROLOGY - PRELIMS
mean calculation technique is used to Frequency Analysis
average the grid point estimates.
⬧ In hydrology, frequency analysis of station
Depth Area Duration Analysis rainfall data is done for use in design of
bridges and culverts on highways, design of
⬧ Once the sufficient rainfall records for the
storm drains etc. With the advancement of
region are collected the basic or raw data can
science of hydrology rainfall frequency
be analyzed and processed to produce useful
analysis is done using Gumble’s extreme-
information in the form of curves or
value distribution and annual series data.
statistical values for use in the planning of
⬧ Now the frequency analysis concept is
water resources development projects. Many
applied on a seasonal basis and for areal
hydrologic problems require an analysis of
frequency. The rainfall records of deficient
time as well as areal distribution of storm
length have to be extended by station year
rainfall. Depth-Area-Duration (DAD)
method. The results of frequency analysis are
analysis of a storm is done to determine the
plotted on the log-log paper.
maximum amounts of rainfall within various
durations over areas of various sizes.
⬧ The preparation of DAD curves is done in
following steps:
1. Examine the rainfall records of the region
in which catchment area under
consideration is located. Also consider
records of meteorologically similar
regions. From it prepare a list of most
severe storms with their dates of
occurrence and duration.
2. For the listed severe storms prepare
isohyetal maps and determine the rainfall
values over the area of each isohyet
(rainfall contour).
3. Draw on a graph-curves connecting area
and rainfall values for different durations
say 1- day rainfall, 2 days’ rainfall, 3 days’
rainfall.
Use of DAD Curves:
⬧ Although most severe storm in the listed
storms may not have occurred right over the
catchment under consideration there is
possibility of such occurrence. So from DAD
curves 1 day, 2 days, 3-day rainfall depths for
the catchment area of the proposed project
are read. These give the rainfall depths when
the storms are centered over the catchment.

17