Hydrology

This course is concerned with the discussion of Hydrologic cycle; occurrence and analysis of components of hydrologic cycle such as precipitation, evapotranspiration, infiltration, stream flow and ground water; river and reservoir sedimentation; flood routing techniques; probability analysis for hydrologic design; computer modeling for hydrologic systems. This course is about learning both the concepts and physical principles of water flow as well as the techniques that can be used to solve hydrologic problems. In practice, hydrologists have to quantify rates at which water is exchanged between the atmosphere, the ground, and the ocean, and this often involves manipulating data and solving sets of equations. It's fairly easy to lose sight of the conceptual part of the problem once you focus on techniques. Thus, one of the goals of this course is to give you a balanced view of hydrology -- one that includes a description of the physical processes plus a coherent presentation of the theories and techniques that are used in practice. The class is structured around the hydrologic cycle, which you can picture as a set of linked processes that cycle water between the ocean, atmosphere, and land surface. We will examine the individual components of the hydrologic cycle, as well as interactions between these components and their influence on landform development.