The following

outline Outline or outlining may refer to: * Outline (list), a document summary, in hierarchical list format * Code folding, a method of hiding or collapsing code or text to see content in outline form * Outline drawing, a sketch depicting the outer edge ...

is provided as an overview of and topical guide to hydrology:

Hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is call ...

– study of the movement, distribution, and quality of

water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

on Earth and other planets, including the

hydrologic cycle The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, is a biogeochemical cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. The mass of water on Earth remains fairly const ...

, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability.

What ''type'' of thing is hydrology?

Hydrology can be described as all of the following: * a branch of

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

** a branch of natural science *** a branch of

physical science Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences". Definition Phy ...

**** a branch of Earth science ** a branch of

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

*** a branch of

physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, ...

Essence of hydrology

Water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

Hydrologic cycle The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, is a biogeochemical cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. The mass of water on Earth remains fairly const ...

Cryosphere ] The cryosphere (from the Ancient Greek, Greek ''kryos'', "cold", "frost" or "ice" and ''sphaira'', "globe, ball") is an all-encompassing term for those portions of Earth's surface where water is in solid form, including sea ice, lake ice, ri ...

Origin of water on Earth The origin of water on Earth is the subject of a body of research in the fields of planetary science, astronomy, and astrobiology. Earth is unique among the rocky planets in the Solar System in that it is the only planet known to have oceans of ...

Water distribution on Earth Most water in Earth's atmosphere and on its crust comes from saline seawater, while fresh water accounts for nearly 1% of the total. The vast bulk of the water on Earth is ''saline'' or ''salt water'', with an average salinity of 35‰ (or 3. ...

Branches of hydrology

Hydrometry Hydrometry is the monitoring of the components of the hydrological cycle including rainfall, groundwater characteristics, as well as water quality and flow characteristics of surface waters. The etymology of the term ''hydrometry'' is from el, ...

– the measurement of the different components of the hydrologic cycle *

Chemical hydrology Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tre ...

– the study of the chemical characteristics of water *

Ecohydrology Ecohydrology (from Greek , ''oikos'', "house(hold)"; , ''hydōr'', "water"; and , '' -logia'') is an interdisciplinary scientific field studying the interactions between water and ecological systems. It is considered a sub discipline of hydrology, ...

– the study of interactions between organisms and the hydrologic cycle *

Hydrogeology Hydrogeology (''hydro-'' meaning water, and ''-geology'' meaning the study of the Earth) is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth's crust (commonly in aqui ...

– the study of the presence and movement of water in aquifers *

Hydroinformatics Hydroinformatics is a branch of informatics which concentrates on the application of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in addressing the increasingly serious problems of the equitable and efficient use of water for many different pu ...

– the adaptation of information technology to hydrology and water resources applications *

Hydrometeorology Hydrometeorology is a branch of meteorology and hydrology that studies the transfer of water and energy between the land surface and the lower atmosphere. Hydrologists often use data provided by meteorologists. As an example, a meteorologist might ...

– the study of the transfer of water and energy between land and water body surfaces and the lower atmosphere *

Isotope hydrology Isotope hydrology is a field of geochemistry and hydrology that uses naturally occurring stable and radioactive isotopic techniques to evaluate the age and origins of surface and groundwater and the processes within the atmospheric hydrologic cycle ...

– the study of the isotopic signatures of water *

Surface hydrology A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is ...

– the study of hydrologic processes that operate at or near the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

's surface * Catchment hydrology – study of the governing processes in a given hydrologically-defined

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

Drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

management – covers water-storage, in the form of reservoirs, and flood-protection. *

Water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

– includes the chemistry of water in rivers and lakes, both of pollutants and natural solutes.

History of hydrology

Things studied by hydrology

Abstract concepts in hydrology

Field capacity Field capacity is the amount of soil moisture or water content held in the soil after excess water has drained away and the rate of downward movement has decreased. This usually takes place 2–3 days after rain or irrigation in pervious soils of u ...

Phenomena studied by hydrology

Water movement pathways

Water cycle The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, is a biogeochemical cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. The mass of water on Earth remains fairly cons ...

(aka "hydrological cycle") * Above ground ** Evaporation – ***

Pan evaporation Pan evaporation is a measurement that combines or integrates the effects of several climate elements: temperature, humidity, rain fall, drought dispersion, solar radiation, and wind. Evaporation is greatest on hot, windy, dry, sunny days; and is g ...

– ** Condensation – **

Precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

– condensed water, is pulled by gravity back to Earth, in the form of: ***

Drizzle Drizzle is a light precipitation consisting of liquid water drops smaller than those of rain – generally smaller than in diameter. Drizzle is normally produced by low stratiform clouds and stratocumulus clouds. Precipitation rates from dri ...

***

Rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...

*** Sleet ***

Snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

*** Graupel *** Hail **

Interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

– ***

Evapotranspiration Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined processes by which water moves from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of water to the air directly from soil, canopies, and water bodies) and transpi ...

– **

Stemflow In hydrology, stemflow is the flow of intercepted water down the trunk or stem of a plant. Stemflow, along with throughfall, is responsible for the transferral of precipitation and nutrients from the canopy to the soil. In tropical rainforests, whe ...

– **

Throughfall In Hydrology, throughfall is the process which describes how wet leaves shed excess water onto the ground surface. These drops have greater erosive power because they are heavier than rain drops. Furthermore, where there is a high canopy, falling ...

– *On ground ** Surface runoff – flow of surface water ***

First flush First flush is the initial surface runoff of a rainstorm. During this phase, water pollution entering storm drains in areas with high proportions of impervious surfaces is typically more concentrated compared to the remainder of the storm. Conse ...

***

Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

s **** Flash floods **

Overland flow Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when the s ...

– ** Horton overland flow – *Below ground ** Infiltration – ** Pipeflow – **

Baseflow Baseflow (also called drought flow, groundwater recession flow, low flow, low-water flow, low-water discharge and sustained or fair-weather runoff) is the portion of the streamflow that is sustained between precipitation events, fed to streams by d ...

– **

Subsurface flow Subsurface flow, in hydrology, is the flow of water beneath earth's surface as part of the water cycle. In the water cycle, when precipitation falls on the earth's land, some of the water flows on the surface forming streams and rivers. The rema ...

– flow of

ground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

Physical things studied by hydrology

Ground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

* Soil moisture * Surface water

Environmental issues

* Desertification/ Oasification – * Hypoxia – *

Erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...

– *

Water pollution Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. ...

–

Measurement tools

Groundwater

* Aquifer characterization :* Flow direction ::*

Piezometer A piezometer is either a device used to measure liquid pressure in a system by measuring the height to which a column of the liquid rises against gravity, or a device which measures the pressure (more precisely, the piezometric head) of groundwa ...

- groundwater pressure and, by inference, groundwater depth (see:

aquifer test An aquifer test (or a pumping test) is conducted to evaluate an aquifer by "stimulating" the aquifer through constant pumping, and observing the aquifer's "response" ( drawdown) in observation wells. Aquifer testing is a common tool that hydroge ...

) ::* Conductivity, storativity, transmisivity ::* Geophysical methods *Vadose zone characterization **Infiltration *** Infiltrometer - infiltration **Soil moisture ***

Capacitance probe Capacitance sensors (or Dielectric sensors) use capacitance to measure the dielectric permittivity of a surrounding medium. The configuration is like the neutron probe where an access tube made of PVC is installed in the soil; probes can also be mo ...

- soil moisture *** Time domain reflectometer - soil moisture ***

Tensiometer Tensiometer may refer to one of a number of devices. The two most common are: * Tensiometer (surface tension) an instrument used to measure the surface tension of liquids *Tensiometer (soil science) A tensiometer in soil science is a measur ...

- soil moisture *** Solute sampling *** Geophysical methods

Surface water

* Water level :* Mechanical pressure gauge – :* Electronic pressure gauge – :* Acoustic pressure gauge – * Channel shape :*

Dumpy level A level is an optical instrument used to establish or verify points in the same horizontal plane in a process known as levelling, and is used in conjunction with a levelling staff to establish the relative height levels of objects or marks. It is ...

– * Discharge :* Acoustic Doppler velocimeter – :* Dilution tracing –

Meteorological

* Precipitation :*

Rain gauge A rain gauge (also known as udometer, pluvia metior, pluviometer, ombrometer, and hyetometer) is an instrument used by meteorologists and hydrologists to gather and measure the amount of liquid precipitation over a predefined area, over a period o ...

– rainfall depth (''unit'') and intensity (''unit time⁻¹'') :*

Disdrometer A disdrometer is an instrument used to measure the drop size distribution and velocity of falling hydrometeors. Some disdrometers can distinguish between rain, graupel, and hail. The uses for disdrometers are numerous. They can be used for ...

– raindrop size, total precipitation depth and intensity :*

Doppler weather radar Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pulse- ...

– raindrop size, total precipitation depth and intensity, rain cloud reflectivity converted to precipitation intensity through calibration to rain gauges :*

Wind profiler A wind profiler is a type of weather observing equipment that uses radar or sound waves ( SODAR) to detect the wind speed and direction at various elevations above the ground. Readings are made at each kilometer above sea level, up to the extent o ...

– precipitation vertical and horizontal motion, vertical cross-section of reflectivity and typing * Frozen precipitation (on ground) :* Pressure sensors – pressure, depth, and liquid water equivalent :* Acoustic sensors – pressure, depth, and liquid water equivalent * Mean windspeed and direction :*

Anemometer In meteorology, an anemometer () is a device that measures wind speed and direction. It is a common instrument used in weather stations. The earliest known description of an anemometer was by Italian architect and author Leon Battista Alberti ...

– :* Doppler sonar – :*

– air vertical and horizontal motion * Mean air temperature :*

Thermometer A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermometer ...

– * Humidity :*

Infrared thermometer An infrared thermometer is a thermometer which infers temperature from a portion of the thermal radiation sometimes called black-body radiation emitted by the object being measured. They are sometimes called laser thermometers as a laser is use ...

– a form of remote sensing :*

Hygrometer A hair tension dial hygrometer with a nonlinear scale. A hygrometer is an instrument used to measure the amount of water vapor in air, in soil, or in confined spaces. Humidity measurement instruments usually rely on measurements of some other qu ...

(Psychrometer) – measures relative humidity * Air pressure :*

Barometer A barometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure air pressure in a certain environment. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Many measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis ...

– * Heat flux :*

Net radiometer A net radiometer is a type of actinometer used to measure net radiation (NR) at the Earth's surface for meteorological applications. The name net radiometer reflects the fact that it measures the difference between downward/incoming and upward/o ...

– :*

Pyranometer A pyranometer is a type of actinometer used for measuring solar irradiance on a planar surface and it is designed to measure the solar radiation flux density (W/m2) from the hemisphere above within a wavelength range 0.3 μm to 3 μm. The name pyra ...

– :* Pyrgeometer – :*

Heat flux sensor A heat flux sensor is a transducer that generates an electrical signal proportional to the total heat rate applied to the surface of the sensor. The measured heat rate is divided by the surface area of the sensor to determine the heat flux. The ...

– :*

Lysimeter A lysimeter (from Greek λύσις (loosening) and the suffix ''-meter'') is a measuring device which can be used to measure the amount of actual evapotranspiration which is released by plants (usually crops or trees). By recording the amount of p ...

– * Cloudiness/Sunshine :*

Spectroradiometer A spectroradiometer is a light measurement tool that is able to measure both the wavelength and amplitude of the light emitted from a light source. Spectrometers discriminate the wavelength based on the position the light hits at the detector array ...

– :* Campbell–Stokes recorder – * Evapotranspiration :* Water budget method ::* Basin water balance – ::* Evaporation pan – ::* Lysimetry – ::* Soil moisture depletion – :* Water vapor transfer method ::*

Bowen ratio The Bowen ratio is used to describe the type of heat transfer for a surface that has moisture. Heat transfer can either occur as sensible heat (differences in temperature without evapotranspiration) or latent heat (the energy required during a chan ...

– considers the energy budget ::*

Eddy covariance The eddy covariance (also known as eddy correlation and eddy flux) is a key atmospheric measurement technique to measure and calculate vertical turbulent fluxes within atmospheric boundary layers. The method analyses high-frequency wind and scal ...

– :* Component analysis ::* Porometry/ Sap flow – ::* Interception loss – ::* Soil evaporation – :* Large-scale ::* Scintillometer – ::*

Remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Eart ...

estimates – ::* LIDAR –

Soil/porous media

* Bulk density & porosity :* Oven dried sample – * Matric potential :* Suction plate – determines relationship between the water volume and

matric potential Water potential is the potential energy of water per unit volume relative to pure water in reference conditions. Water potential quantifies the tendency of water to move from one area to another due to osmosis, gravity, mechanical pressure and matr ...

Resistance thermometer Resistance thermometers, also called resistance temperature detectors (RTDs), are sensors used to measure temperature. Many RTD elements consist of a length of fine wire wrapped around a heat-resistant ceramic or glass core but other constructio ...

– relates to matric potential from previous calibration * Hydraulic conductivity :* Disc permeameter – measures soil hydraulic conductivity :* Rainfall simulator – measures output through the application of constant input ("rain") in a sealed area :*

Slug test Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a s ...

– addition or removal of water and monitors the time until return to predisturbance level *

– * Soil moisture content (water volume percentage) :*

Frequency domain sensor {{Short description, Soil moisture content measuring instrument Frequency domain (FD) sensor is an instrument developed for measuring soil moisture content. The instrument has an oscillating circuit, the sensing part of the sensor is embedded in the ...

– :* Time domain reflectometer – :* Neutron probe –

Water quality

* Conductivity :* Electrical conductivity – variety of probes used * pH :*

pH meter A pH meter is a scientific instrument that measures the hydrogen-ion activity in water-based solutions, indicating its acidity or alkalinity expressed as pH. The pH meter measures the difference in electrical potential between a pH elect ...

– * Dissolved oxygen (DO) :* Winkler test – * Turbidity :*

Nephelometer A nephelometer or aerosol photometer is an instrument for measuring the concentration of suspended particulates in a liquid or gas colloid. A nephelometer measures suspended particulates by employing a light beam (source beam) and a light dete ...

(Turbidimeter) – * Water clarity :*

Secchi disk The Secchi disk (or Secchi disc), as created in 1865 by Angelo Secchi, is a plain white, circular disk in diameter used to measure water transparency or turbidity in bodies of water. The disc is mounted on a pole or line, and lowered slowly down ...

– * Bed load * Erosion/deposition

Modeling

Behavioral modeling in hydrology In hydrology, behavioral modeling is a modeling approach that focuses on the modeling of the behavior of hydrological systems. The behavioral modeling approach makes the main assumption that every system, given its environment, has a most probable ...

Equations

Basin * Hack's law – Catchment *

Water balance The law of water balance states that the inflows to any water system or area is equal to its outflows plus change in storage during a time interval. In hydrology, a water balance equation can be used to describe the flow of water in and out of ...

– Evaporation * Penman – * Penman-Monteith – Infiltration/Soil Movement *

Darcy's Law Darcy's law is an equation that describes the flow of a fluid through a porous medium. The law was formulated by Henry Darcy based on results of experiments on the flow of water through beds of sand, forming the basis of hydrogeology, a branch of ...

– :* Darcy-Weisbach – *

Richards equation The Richards equation represents the movement of water in unsaturated soils, and is attributed to Lorenzo A. Richards who published the equation in 1931. It is a quasilinear partial differential equation; its analytical solution is often limited ...

– Streamflow/Open channel *

Fick's law of diffusion Fick's laws of diffusion describe diffusion and were derived by Adolf Fick in 1855. They can be used to solve for the diffusion coefficient, . Fick's first law can be used to derive his second law which in turn is identical to the diffusion e ...

– * Chézy formula – *

Manning formula The Manning formula or Manning's equation is an empirical formula estimating the average velocity of a liquid flowing in a conduit that does not completely enclose the liquid, i.e., open channel flow. However, this equation is also used for calculat ...

– * Strahler number – *

Standard step method The standard step method (STM) is a computational technique utilized to estimate one-dimensional surface water profiles in open channels with gradually varied flow under steady state conditions. It uses a combination of the energy, momentum, and c ...

– computational technique for modeling steady state open channel surface profiles Erosion *

Hjulström curve The Hjulström curve, named after Filip Hjulström (1902–1982), is a graph used by hydrologists and geologists to determine whether a river will erode, transport, or deposit sediment. It was originally published in his doctoral thesis "Studies ...

– Groundwater * Dupuit–Forchheimer assumption – *

Groundwater flow equation Used in hydrogeology, the groundwater flow equation is the mathematical relationship which is used to describe the flow of groundwater through an aquifer. The transient flow of groundwater is described by a form of the diffusion equation, similar ...

–

Power/Uncertainty

* Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient * GLUE

Models

Hydrological transport model An hydrological transport model is a mathematical model used to simulate the flow of rivers, streams, groundwater movement or drainage front displacement, and calculate water quality parameters. These models generally came into use in the 1960s a ...

Canadian Land Surface Scheme The Canadian Land Surface Scheme (CLASS) is a land surface parametrization scheme for use in large scale climate models. It is a state-of-the-art model, using physically based equations to simulate the energy and water balances of vegetation, sno ...

* CHyM – Cetemps Hydrological Model * DRAINMOD

*

DSSAM The DSSAM Model (Dynamic Stream Simulation and Assessment Model) is a computer simulation developed for the Truckee River to analyze water quality impacts from land use and wastewater management decisions in the Truckee River Basin. This area inc ...

FEHM FEHM is a groundwater model that has been developed in thEarth and Environmental Sciences Divisionat Los Alamos National Laboratory over the past 30 years. The executable is available free at thFEHM Website The capabilities of the code have expa ...

* Flood Modeller Pro * Groundwater model * GSSHA *

HBV hydrology model The HBV hydrology model, or Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning model, is a computer simulation used to analyze river discharge and water pollution. Developed originally for use in Scandinavia, this hydrological transport model has also be ...

* HEC-HMS * HydroGeoSphere * Hydrologic evaluation of landfill performance *

Isochrone map An isochrone map in geography and urban planning is a map that depicts the area accessible from a point within a certain time threshold. An isochrone (iso = equal, chrone = time) is defined as "a line drawn on a map connecting points at which som ...

* Litpack *

METRIC Metric or metrical may refer to: * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics In mathem ...

* MIKE 11 *

MODFLOW MODFLOW is the U.S. Geological Survey modular finite-difference flow model, which is a computer code that solves the groundwater flow equation. The program is used by hydrogeologists to simulate the flow of groundwater through aquifers. The so ...

* Mouse * RheinBlick2050 *

Runoff model (reservoir) A runoff model is a mathematical model describing the rainfall– runoff relations of a rainfall ''catchment area'', drainage basin or ''watershed''. More precisely, it produces a surface runoff hydrograph in response to a rainfall event, repre ...

SahysMod SahysMod is a computer program for the prediction of the salinity of soil moisture, groundwater and drainage water, the depth of the watertable, and the drain discharge in irrigated agricultural lands, using different hydrogeologic and aquifer con ...

SaltMod SaltMod is computer program for the prediction of the salinity of soil moisture, groundwater and drainage water, the depth of the watertable, and the drain discharge (hydrology) in irrigated agricultural lands, using different (geo)hydrologic cond ...

* SEDCAD * SHETRAN * Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model *

SWAT model SWAT (Soil & Water Assessment Tool) is a river basin scale model developed to quantify the impact of land management practices in large, complex watersheds. SWAT is a public domain software enabled model actively supported by the USDA Agricultural R ...

* Temporal Analyst *

Vflo V''flo'' is a commercially available, physics-based distributed hydrologic model generated bVieux & Associates, Inc. V''flo'' uses radar rainfall data for hydrologic input to simulate distributed runoff. V''flo'' employs GIS maps for parameteriza ...

* WAFLEX * WaterGAP * WEAP * ZOOMQ3D

Applications of hydrology

Some examples of applications of hydrology: * Analyzing the impacts of

antecedent moisture {{Refimprove, date=November 2008 In hydrology and sewage collection and disposal, antecedent moisture is the relative wetness or dryness of a watershed or sanitary sewershed. Antecedent moisture conditions change continuously and can have a very si ...

on sanitary sewer systems * Assessing

contaminant Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that spoils, corrupts, infects, makes unfit, or makes inferior a material, physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc. Types of contamination Wi ...

transport risk and establishing environmental policy guidelines * Assessing the impacts of natural and anthropogenic environmental change on water resources * Designing bridges * Designing

dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

for

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...

hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

generation * Designing

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

schemes and managing agricultural productivity * Designing riparian restoration projects * Designing sewers and urban drainage system * Determining the agricultural water balance * Determining the

water balance The law of water balance states that the inflows to any water system or area is equal to its outflows plus change in storage during a time interval. In hydrology, a water balance equation can be used to describe the flow of water in and out of ...

of a region *

Fog collection upright=1.3, ''Atrapanieblas'' or fog collection in Alto Patache, Atacama Desert, Chile">Atacama_Desert.html" ;"title="Alto Patache, Atacama Desert">Alto Patache, Atacama Desert, Chile Fog collection is the harvesting of water from fog using ...

* Part of the hazard module in catastrophe modeling * Predicting and mitigating

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

, landslide and drought risk * Predicting geomorphologic changes, such as

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...

sedimentation Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the ...

* Providing

drinking water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, a ...

* Real-time flood forecasting and flood warning

Hydrology organizations

Intergovernmental organizations

International Hydrological Programme The International Hydrological Programme (IHP) is UNESCO’s international scientific cooperative program in water research, water resource management, water education, and capacity- building, and the only broadly based science program of the UN s ...

(IHP)

International research bodies

International Water Management Institute The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a non-profit international water management research organisation under the CGIAR with its headquarters in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and offices across Africa and Asia. Research at the Institute fo ...

(IWMI) * UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education

National research bodies

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) is a centre for excellence in environmental science across water, land and air. The organisation has a long history of investigating, monitoring and modelling environmental change, and its science ma ...

– UK * Centre for Water Science, Cranfield University, UK * eawag – aquatic research, ETH Zürich, Switzerland * Institute of Hydrology, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Germany *

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

– Water Resources of the United States * NOAA's

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...

– Office of Hydrologic Development, USA *

US Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

Hydrologic Engineering Center, USA * Hydrologic Research Center, USA * NOAA Economics and Social Sciences, USA * University of Oklahoma Center for Natural Hazards and Disasters Research, USA *

National Hydrology Research Centre The National Hydrology Research Centre is located in a dedicated building on the Innovation Place Research Park campus in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The Centre is operated by Environment Canada. The centre includes staff from the Water Scienc ...

, Canada * National Institute of Hydrology, India

National and international societies

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitch ...

(GSA) – Hydrogeology Division *

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's a ...

(AGU) – Hydrology Section *

National Ground Water Association The National Ground Water Association (NGWA), headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, is a membership-based nonprofit organization. Founded in 1948, the organization is composed of United States and international groundwater professionals in four me ...

(NGWA) *

American Water Resources Association Founded in 1964, the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) is a multidisciplinary not-for-profit professional association dedicated to the advancement of individuals in water resources management, research, and education. With more than 2, ...

* Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) *

International Association of Hydrological Sciences The International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) is a non-profit non-governmental scientific organisation committed to serving the science of hydrology and the worldwide community of hydrologists. The IAHS was established in 1922, ...

(IAHS) * Statistics in Hydrology Working Group (subgroup of IAHS) * German Hydrological Society (DHG: Deutsche Hydrologische Gesellschaft) * Italian Hydrological Society (SII-IHS) – http://www.sii-ihs.it * Nordic Association for Hydrology * British Hydrological Society * Russian Geographical Society (Moscow Center) – Hydrology Commission * International Association for Environmental Hydrology *

International Association of Hydrogeologists The International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) is a scientific and educational organisation whose aims are to promote research into and understanding of the proper management and protection of groundwater for the common good throughout th ...

Basin- and catchment-wide overviews

* Connected Waters Initiative, University of New South Wales – Investigating and raising awareness of groundwater and water resource issues in Australia * Murray Darling Basin Initiative, Department of Environment and Heritage, Australia

Hydrology publications

Hydrology-related journals

* ''Hydrological Processes'', (electronic) 0885-6087 (paper),

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, ...

* ''Hydrology Research'', , IWA Publishing (formerly ''Nordic Hydrology'') * ''Journal of Hydroinformatics'', , IWA Publishing * ''

Journal of Hydrologic Engineering The ''Journal of Hydrologic Engineering'' is a monthly engineering journal, first published by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1996. The journal provides information on the development of new hydrologic methods, theories, and applicati ...

'', , ASCE Publication * ''

Journal of Hydrology ''Journal of Hydrology'' () is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Elsevier about hydrological science Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including ...

'' * '' Water Research'' * ''

Water Resources Research ''Water Resources Research'' is a Peer review, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Geophysical Union, covering research in the social and natural sciences of water. The editor-in-chief is Georgia Destouni (Stockholm Universit ...

'' * ''Hydrological Sciences Journal '' – ''Journal of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences'' ''(IAHS)'' (Print), (Online)

Persons influential in the field of hydrology

Hein de Baar Henricus "Hein" J.W. de Baar (born 18 November 1949, The Hague) is a Dutch professor of Oceanography. He has worked in the group of Harry Elderfield at the University of Cambridge, at the University of Groningen and at the Royal Netherlands Institu ...

Günter Blöschl Professor Günter Blöschl (born 11 July 1961) is an Austrian hydrologist, engineer and academic. In 2020, Blöschl was elected as a member of the US National Academy of Engineering for international leadership in the prediction and management o ...

* Chen Xing (hydrologist) * Ven Te Chow * Gedeon Dagan * James Dooge *

Endre Dudich Endre Dudich (20 March 1895 – 5 February 1971) was a Hungarian Kossuth Prize-winning professor, academician, and zoologist, noted for his application of mathematical methods for variational study of insects. Early life and education Born in N ...

* G. H. Dury * Saeid Eslamian * Philipp Forchheimer *

François-Alphonse Forel François-Alphonse Forel (February 2, 1841 – August 7, 1912) was a Swiss physician and scientist who pioneered the study of lakes, and is thus considered the founder, and the Father of limnology.Prof. F. A. Forel. Nature 89, 638–639 (1912). ...

Pieter Harting Pieter Harting (27 February 1812 – 3 December 1885) was a Dutch biologist and naturalist, born in Rotterdam. He made contributions in a number of scientific disciplines, and is remembered for his work in the fields of microscopy, hydrology, ...

Majid Hassanizadeh Seyed Majid Hassanizadeh ( fa, سید مجید حسنی‌زاده; born 1952) is a professor of hydrogeology at Utrecht University, where he heads the Hydrogeology group at the Faculty of Geosciences. His research focuses on flow of fluids and t ...

Alf Howard Alf Howard (30 April 1906 – 4 July 2010) was an Australian scientist, educator and explorer. He was most prominently known for being the last remaining member of the expedition to Antarctica, which was led by Sir Douglas Mawson on board the ...

Jan Vladimír Hráský Jan Vladimír Hráský (1857–1939) was a Czech architect, builder, engineer, and hydrologist. Hrásky is known in Slovenia as an original author of building in Neo-Renaissance style of Carniolan Provincial Manor in Ljubljana (1899–1902), w ...

* Hydra (skater) *

Shahbaz Khan (hydrologist) Shahbaz Khan (born in Jhelum, Pakistan) is an Australian climatologist and hydrologist, who has worked extensively for UNESCO and also advised governments and universities on issues related to the climate and water management. Career Khan h ...

* Vit Klemes * Michal Kravčík * Torben Larsen * John R. Philip * Giovanni Roncagli * Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa * Alireza Shokoohi * Bojidar Spiriev * Valeryan Uryvaev * Jasper A. Vrugt * John Williams (water scientist) * Czesław Zakaszewski

Allied sciences

Aquatic chemistry An aqueous solution is a solution in which the solvent is water. It is mostly shown in chemical equations by appending (aq) to the relevant chemical formula. For example, a solution of table salt, or sodium chloride (NaCl), in water would be rep ...

– *

Civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

– :*

Hydraulic engineering Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the m ...

– *

Climatology Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of study ...

– *

Environmental engineering Environmental engineering is a professional engineering discipline that encompasses broad scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiology, and mathematics to create solutions that will protect and ...

– *

Environmental Engineering Science Environmental engineering science (EES) is a multidisciplinary field of engineering science that combines the biological, chemical and physical sciences with the field of engineering. This major traditionally requires the student to take basic en ...

– * Geomorphology – *

Hydroacoustics Hydroacoustics is the study and application of sound in water. Hydroacoustics, using sonar technology, is most commonly used for monitoring of underwater physical and biological characteristics. Hydroacoustics can be used to detect the depth ...

– *

Hydrography Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primar ...

– :*

Limnology Limnology ( ; from Greek λίμνη, ''limne'', "lake" and λόγος, ''logos'', "knowledge") is the study of inland aquatic ecosystems. The study of limnology includes aspects of the biological, chemical, physical, and geological characteris ...

– :* Oceanography – *

Physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, ...

–

Hydrology lists

* Drainage basins by area – largest hydrologically defined watersheds in the world * Floods – chronological and geographic list of major floods worldwide *

Waterways A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary ...

– worldwide listing of waterbodies classified as rivers, canals, estuaries, and firths

References

External links

Hydrology.nl – Portal to international hydrology and water resources

Decision tree to choose an uncertainty method for hydrological and hydraulic modelling

Experimental Hydrology Wiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hydrology

What ''type'' of thing is hydrology?

Essence of hydrology

Branches of hydrology

History of hydrology

Things studied by hydrology

Abstract concepts in hydrology

Phenomena studied by hydrology

Water movement pathways

Physical things studied by hydrology

Environmental issues

Measurement tools

Groundwater

Surface water

Meteorological

Soil/porous media

Water quality

Modeling

Equations

Power/Uncertainty

Models

Applications of hydrology

Hydrology organizations

Intergovernmental organizations

International research bodies

National research bodies

National and international societies

Basin- and catchment-wide overviews

Hydrology publications

Hydrology-related journals

Persons influential in the field of hydrology

Allied sciences

Hydrology lists

See also

References

External links