CE 148 / CE 136 HYDROLOGY

PRELIM

LESSON 1: INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY

DESIRED LEARNING OUTCOMES:

I. HYDROLOGY

Water is the most abundant substance on earth, the principal constituent of all living things, and a
major force constantly shaping the surface of the earth. It is also a key factor in air-conditioning the
earth for human existence and in influencing the progress of civilization. Hydrology, which treats all
phases of the earth's water, is a subject of great importance for people and their environment. The role
of applied hydrology is to help analyze the problems involved in these tasks and to provide guidance
for the planning and management of water resources.

HYDROLOGY – the scientific study of water: its properties, its influences, and its distribution over
and under the earth’s surface. A multidisciplinary subject, hydrology draws upon and at the same
time encompasses such areas of study as geology, geomorphology, biology, and chemistry. In a
simple words Hydrology means the science of water which deals with occurrence, circulation, and
distribution of water.

Applications of Hydrology in CIVIL ENGINEERING:

1. Hydrology is an essential tool in planning and building hydraulic structures.

2. Hydrology is used for city water supply design which is a based on catchments area, amount of
rainfall, dry period, storage capacity.
3. Dam construction, reservoir capacity, spillway capacity, sizes of water supply pipelines all are
designed on basis of hydrological equations.
4. Determining the water balance of a region.
5. Mitigation and predicting floods, landslides and drought risk.
6. Flood forecasting and flood warnings
7. Hydrology is used to find out maximum probable flood at proposed sites e.g. Dams.
8. The variation of water production from catchments can be calculated and described by hydrology.
9. Engineering hydrology enables us to find out the relationship between a catchment’s surface water
and groundwater resources.
10. Hydrological investigation helps us to know the required reservoir capacity to assure adequate
water for irrigation or municipal water supply in droughts condition.
11. Used in connection with design and operations of hydraulic structure.
12. Designing dams for water supply or hydroelectric power generation.
13. Designing bridges.
14. Designing sewers and urban drainage system.
15. Predicting geomorphologic changes, such as, erosion or sedimentation.
16. Assessing the impact of natural and anthropogenic environmental change.
17. It tells us what hydrologic hardware (e.g. rain gauges, stream gauges etc.) and software (computer
models) are needed for real-time flood forecasting.

THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

The hydrological cycle describes the path of a water droplet from the time it falls to the ground
until it evaporates and returns to our atmosphere (Purdue University, 2008). The difference in density
between moist air and dry air allows moist air to rise through the troposphere until it reaches buoyant
equilibrium. Microscopic particles of water suspended in our gaseous atmosphere bind to other
particles called cloud condensation nuclei, attract water molecules to form clusters and eventually form
precipitation. Water precipitation includes rain, snow, sleet, and hail. When the cluster falls during a
precipitation event, it collides with other atmospheric aerosols and removes them from the air. This
process, called scavenging, is one way that inorganic compounds enter the water supply.

When precipitation falls over the land surface, it follows various routes in its subsequent paths.
Some of it evaporates, returning to the atmosphere; some seeps into the ground as soil moisture
or groundwater; Rainwater flows overland as runoff into streams, rivers, lakes, and even the ocean.
Fresh surface water includes flowing water such as streams and rivers and still water such as ponds.
Water in the ocean contains ionic species; therefore, it is called salt water. Groundwater refers to all
the water hidden in the ground. It may contribute to soil moisture or may be flowing through an
aquifer. Artesian wells tap into groundwater trapped between two impermeable layers. Unconfined
aquifers flow through deposits of rock, pebbles, sand, and other types of porous media. Humans and
other animals consume both surface water and ground water.

The Water Cycle

 II. PRECIPITATION

Precipitation is any liquid or frozen water that forms in the atmosphere and falls back to the Earth.
Precipitation forms in the clouds when water vapor condenses into bigger and bigger droplets of
water. When the drops are heavy enough, they fall to the Earth. If a cloud is colder, like it would be
at higher altitudes, the water droplets may freeze to form ice. These ice crystals then fall to the Earth
as snow, hail, or rain, depending on the temperature within the cloud and at the Earth’s surface. Most
rain actually begins as snow high in the clouds. As the snowflakes fall through warmer air, they
become raindrops.

Precipitation is the primary way we receive fresh water in earth. On average, the world receives
about 38½" (980 mm) each year over both the oceans and land masses.

Formation of Precipitation

 The atmosphere must have moisture (ascending humid air)

 There must be sufficient nuclei (0.1 – 10 Mm) present to aid condensation (ex: salt,
oxides, CO2)
 Weather conditions (cooling and pressure change), must be good for condensation of
water to take place,
 The product of condensation must reach the earth i.e. droplet weight > buoyancy force
Types of Precipitation
APPROXIMATE
TYPES STATE DESCRIPTION PHOTOS
SIZE

Generally produced by
nimbostratus or cumulonimbus
RAIN 0.5 or 5 mm Liquid clouds. When heavy, size can
be highly variable from one
place to another.

Small uniform drops that fall

DRIZZLES Less than 0.5 mm Liquid from stratus clouds, generally
for several hours.

Droplets large enough to be felt

on the face when air is moving
MIST 0.005 to 0.05 mm Liquid
1 meter/second. Associated
with stratus clouds.

Small, spherical to lumpy ice

particles that form when
SLEET 0.5 to 5 mm Solid raindrops freeze while falling
through a layer of subfreezing
air.

Deposits usually consisting of

Variable
RIME Solid ice feathers that point into the
accumulations
wind.

Produced when super cooled

raindrops freeze on contact
with solid objects. Glaze can
Layers 1 mm to 2
FREEZING RAIN OR GLAZE Solid form a thick coating of ice
mm thick
having sufficient weight to
seriously damage trees and
power lines.

The crystalline nature of snow

allows it to assume many
SNOW 1 mm to 2 cm Solid
shapes, including six sided
crystals, plates, and needles.

Precipitation in the form of

hard, rounded pellets or
2.5 mm to irregular lumps of ice.
HAIL 10 mm or Solid Produced in large convective,
larger cumulonimbus clouds, where
frozen ice particles and super
cooled water coexist.

Sometimes called Soft Hail,

graupel forms as rime collects
GRAUPEL 2 mm to 5 mm Solid
on snow crystal to produce
irregular masses of “soft” ice.
III. RAINFALL

RAINFALL - Rainfall is the amount of precipitation, in the form of rain (water from clouds),
that descends onto the surface of Earth, whether it is on land or water. It develops when air
masses travel over warm water bodies or over wet land surfaces. Atmospheric turbulence and
convection carries the moisture, or water vapor, upward into air masses where they form clouds.
The clouds eventually release this water vapor, which is dropped as rainfall.

Falling rain is usually composed of droplets with diameters of about 0.02 in (0.5 mm) or greater.
A group of smaller raindrops is called drizzle. It is not considered rainfall when precipitation
from clouds evaporates on the way down and fails to reach Earth's surface.

Clouds cannot be produced without dust particles of organic and inorganic substances such as
bacteria, pollen, and silica. These natural substances are suspended in the atmosphere and serve
as carriers for the condensation of water vapor, what is called cloud condensation nuclei (CCN).

Types of rainfall

1. Convectional rainfall

 The air on getting heated becomes light and rises in convection currents.
 As the air rises, it expands and drops the temperature and subsequently, condensation takes
place and cumulus clouds are formed.
 Heavy rainfall with lightning and thunder takes place which does not last long.
 Such rain is usually in the summer or the hotter part of the day.
 This type of rainfall generally takes place in the equatorial regions and internal parts of the
continents, predominantly in the northern hemisphere.
 This rainfall is usually associated with hail and graupel

2. Orographic or relief rainfall

 When the saturated air mass comes across a mountain, it is forced to rise.
 The rising air expands, eventually, the temperature falls, and the moisture gets condensed.
 The principal characteristic of this type of rain is that the windward slopes get more rainfall.
 After giving rain on the windward side, when these winds reach the other slope, they drop
away, and their temperature increases. Then their ability to take in moisture increases and
hence, these leeward slopes remain dry and rainless.
 The region situated on the leeward side is known as the rain-shadow area.

3. Cyclonic or frontal rainfall

 Cyclonic activity causes cyclonic rain and it occurs along the fronts of the cyclone.
 When two masses of air of unlike density, temperature, and humidity meet then it is formed.
  The layer that separates them is known as the front.
 A warm front and the cold front are the two parts of the front.
 At the warm front, the warm lighter wind increases slightly over the heavier cold air.
 As the warm air rises, it cools, and the moisture present in it condenses to form clouds
 This rain falls gradually for a few hours to a few days.

Main characteristics of Rainfall

1. Amount – the amount of water falling in rain, within a given time and area, usually expressed
as a hypothetical depth of coverage. For example, the amount may be the same for a high
intensity short duration rainfall as it is for a low intensity long duration rainfall.

2. Duration – the length of time over which a precipitation event occurs. Closely related to these
definitions is the concept of intensity, which equals the volume divided by the duration. A
high intensity rainfall for a short duration may affect tender seedlings, but it will not likely
have much effect on soil erosion and runoff. Rainfall of longer duration can significantly
affect infiltration, runoff, and soil erosion processes.

3. Intensity – the ratio of the total amount of rain (rainfall depth) falling during a given period
to the duration of the period It is expressed in depth units per unit time, usually as mm per
hour (mm/h). Higher rainfall intensity produces larger size raindrops which have more
impact energy, and thus higher intensity storms can damage delicate vegetation and bare
soil. High intensity storms can literally displace soil particles, causing soil crusting or
starting the soil erosion process. High intensity storms may also overwhelm the soils ability
to infiltrate the rainfall at the same rate, causing infiltration-excess runoff.

The types of rainfall based on intensity can be classified as:

 Light rain – Rate of rain varies between 0 to 2.5 millimeters

 Moderate rain – Rate of rain varies between 2.6 millimeters to 7.6 millimeters
 Heavy rain – Rate of rain is beyond 7.6 millimeters

4. Frequency – or return period refers to how often rainfall occurs at a particular amount or
intensity and duration. For example, rainfall return periods are referred to as 100 year-1 hour
rainfall or 100 year-24 hour rainfall to define the probability that a given amount will fall
within a given time period.

5. Volume – the amount of precipitation occurring over the storm duration. The volume of a storm
is most often reported as a depth, with units of length such as inches or centimetres; in such
cases, the depth is assumed to occur uniformly over the watershed. Thus the volume equals the
depth times the watershed area. For example, if the 2-hr storm with a volume of 24 acre-in.
occurred on a 6-acre watershed, the depth of rainfall would be 4 in. and the intensity would be
2 in./hr. This interchanging use of units for storm volume often leads to confusion because the
terms depth and volume are applied to a quantity having units of length. One might speak of
 the rainfall volume, but express it in inches. Such statements imply that the depth occurred
uniformly over the entire watershed and the units are "area-inches," with the area of the
watershed used to compute a volume in acre-inches or some similar set of units.

6. Shape & size – rain, precipitation of liquid water drop with diameters greater than 0.5 mm.
When the drops are smaller, the precipitation is usually called drizzle.

IV. ASSIGNMENT
Assignment 2
1.Watch the video presentation on Youtube, link will be posted.
2. Submit a file: pictures or a 3-minute video clips that you watched the video presentation or
lectures.