MODULE I

HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
 Water exists on the earth in gaseous form (water vapour), liquid and solid (ice) forms and is
circulated among the different components of the earth mainly by solar energy and planetary
forces.
 Sunlight evaporates sea water and this
evaporated form is kept in circulation by
gravitational forces of Earth and wind action.
The different paths through which water in
nature circulates and the earth’s water
circulatory system is known as hydrologic
cycle.
 Moisture from atmosphere to earth (precipitation) Precipitated water by streams and
rivers to ocean and lakes evaporation of water back to atmosphere.
 The hydrologic cycle consists of the following processes.
1. Evaporation and Transpiration (E)
 Evaporation is the process of turning the water from the surface of ocean, river, lakes
and also from moist soil into vapour.
 Transpiration is the process of water being lost from the leaves of plants from their
pores.
2. Precipitation (P)
 Precipitation denotes all forms of water that reach the earth from atmosphere.
 Two type precipitations are there
 Liquid precipitation- rain
 Frozen precipitation-snow, hail, sleet and freezing rain.
 The following are the main characteristics of rainfall
a .Amount or quantity- The amount of rainfall is usually given as a depth over a specified
area, assuming that all the rainfall accumulates over the surface and the unit for measuring
amount of rainfall is cm.
The volume of rainfall = Area x Depth of Rainfall
 The amount of rainfall occurring is measured with the help of rain gauges.
b. Intensity- This is usually average of rainfall rate of rainfall during the special periods of
a storm and is usually expressed as cm/ hour.
c. Duration of Storm- In the case of a complex storm, we can divide it into a series of
storms of different durations, during which the intensity is more or less uniform.

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 d. Aerial distribution- During a storm, the rainfall intensity or depth etc. will not be uniform
over the entire area. Hence we must consider the variation over the area i.e. the aerial
distribution of rainfall over which rainfall is uniform.
3. Run Off (R)
 The portion of precipitation that is not evaporated (evaporated from water surface, soil
and vegetation and through transpiration.)
 The run off ultimately runs in to the ocean through surface or sub surface streams.
 Run off may be classified as
 Surface run off- water flow over the land and first reach the streams.
 Inter flow or sub surface run off- water infiltrates in to surface soil, run as subsurface
run off and reaches the streams and rivers.
 Ground water flow or base flow-after infiltration the water percolates down and join
ground water reservoir, ultimately connected to the ocean.
Hydrologic cycle may be expressed as
Precipitation = Evapotranspiration + Run Off

P = E+R

PRECIPITATION
 To the hydrologist, precipitation is the general term for all form of moisture emanating from
the cloud and falling to the ground.

Mechanism of precipitation
Three mechanism are needed for formation of precipitation.
1. Lifting and cooling- lifting of air mass to higher altitude causes cooling of air.
2. Condensation- conversion of water vapour in to liquid droplets.
3. Droplet formation- growth of droplet is required if the liquid water is present in a cloud
is to reach ground against the lifting mechanism of air.
For precipitation to occur, moisture (water vapour) is always necessary to be present. Moisture
is present due to the process of evaporation. There must also be some mechanism for large
scale lifting of moist, warm air so that there will be sufficient cooling. This will cause
condensation (conversion of vapours) to liquid and growth of water drops. Condensation nuclei
such as the oxides of nitrogen, salt crystals, carbon dioxide, silica etc. must be present such that
water vapour condenses around them. The conditions of electric charge in the cloud, size of
water droplets or ice crystals, temperature and relative movement of clouds must be favorable
so that the size of the condensed water drop increases and ultimately they begin to fall to the
ground due to gravity. A drop of size 0.5mm can fall through 2000m in unsaturated air.

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 Types of precipitation
Precipitation is often classified according to the factors responsible for lifting. There are four
types of precipitation
1. Cyclonic Precipitation
2. Convective Precipitation
3. Orographic Precipitation
4. Precipitation due to turbulent ascent
1. Cyclonic Precipitation
 Cyclonic precipitation results from lifting of air masses converging into a low pressure area or
cyclone.
The cyclonic precipitation may be classified as:
(a) Frontal precipitation; and
(b) Non-frontal precipitation.
(a) Frontal Precipitation
 A surface separating the warm air mass and the cold air mass is called a frontal surface or a
front.
 It may be subdivided as warm front and cold front.
 A warm front is the one in which warm air replaces cold air and in a cold front cold air replaces
warm air.

 Frontal precipitation results from lifting of warm air over cold air and it may be subdivided as
warm front precipitation and cold front precipitation. In warm front precipitation the warm air
moves upwards over a relatively stationary wedge of cold air.
 In this case the precipitation is spread over a large area which may extend 300 to 500 kilometres
ahead of the front and the precipitation is generally light to moderate and nearly continuous
until after the passage of the warm front.
 On the other hand in cold front precipitation the warm air is forced upwards by an advancing
wedge of cold air. In this case the precipitation occurs on a small area which may extend only
100 to 150 kilometres ahead of the front and the precipitation is relatively more intense.

Cold front
Warm front

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 (b) Non-Frontal Precipitation
 Non-frontal precipitation occurs when there is low pressure
(or barometric depression) caused in any region.
 In this case air from an adjacent high pressure area flows into the area
of low pressure which causes the lifting of the air of the low pressure
area to high altitudes where it cools down and results in condensation
and precipitation.
2. Convective Precipitation
 Convective precipitation is caused by natural rising of warmer,
lighter air in colder, denser surrounding.
 This kind of precipitation occurs in tropical countries.
 Where on a hot day, the ground surface get heated unequally,
causing the warmer air to lift up as the colder air comes to take
its place.
 Convective precipitation occur in the form of showers of high
density and short duration.

3. Orographic Precipitation
 The precipitation caused by lifting of air over mountain barrier is called orographic
precipitation.
 When moisture bearing winds usually blowing from oceans to land surfaces are forced to rise
far above the ground surface by the presence of the coastal mountain ranges
 The cooling and condensation processes take place and the precipitation occurs on the
windward side of the mountains.
 The area situated on the leeward side, which gets less rainfall is known as the Rain-Shadow
Area

4. Precipitation Due to Turbulent Ascent

 Air mass is forced to rise up due to greater friction of the earth’s surface after its travel over
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 the ocean.
 The air mass rises up because of increased turbulence and friction when it ultimately condenses,
and precipitation occurs.
 Winter rainfall in Madras state is mainly due to this process.
Forms of precipitation
The various forms of precipitations are
1. Drizzle- This is a form of precipitation consisting of water droplets of diameter less than 0.5
mm with intensity less than 0.01cm/ hour.

2. Rainfall- This is a form of precipitation of water drops larger than 0.5mm diameter up to
0.5cm diameter. Water drops of size greater than 0.5 cm diameter tend to break up as they fall
through the atmosphere. Intensity varies from 0.25 cm/ hour to 0.75cm/ hour. It is the principal
form of precipitation in India.

Based on intensity, rain is classified as

Light rain- < 2.5 mm/h

Moderate rain - 2.5 mm/h to 7.5 mm/h

Heavy rain- > 7.5 mm/h

3. Glaze/ Freezing rain- This is the ice coating formed when a drizzle or rainfall comes in
contact with very cold objects on the ground at around 00C.

4. Sleet- This occurs when rain drops fall through air which is below 00c. The grains are
transparent, round with diameter between 0.1 cm to 0.4 cm. It is precipitation of snow and rain
simultaneously.

5. Snow Pellets- These are white opaque round grains of ice. They are crystalline and rebound
when falling onto the ground. The diameter varies from 0.05cm to 0.5cm.

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 6. Snow- This is precipitation in the form of ice crystals (resulting from condensation of water
vapour to ice), usually a no. of ice crystals combining to form snowflakes. Its intensity is 0.06
to 0.15 g/cc.

7. Hails- These are balls or irregular lumps of ice of over 0.5cm diameter formed by repeated
freezing and melting. These are formed by upward and downward movement of air masses in
turbulent air currents (thunderstorms).

8. Dew- Moisture condensed from atmosphere in small drops upon cool surfaces.

MEASUREMENT OF RAINFALL

Rain fall is the source of all water used for irrigation purposes.
 So, the knowledge of its amount, characteristics seasons or periods and the effect producedby it is of
prime importance.
 The amount of precipitation is expressed as the depth in centimetres (or inches) which fall ona level surface.
 It is measured by rain gauges.
 The main types of rain gauges are
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 1. Non-recording type rain gages or non-automatic recording type rain gages.
2. Self-recording type or automatic recording type rain gages.
I. Non-Recording Type Rain Gages
 As the name indicates these rain gages do not record the rainfall directly.

 It only collect the rain water which when measured gives the total amount of rainfall at therain gage station
during the measuring interval.
 In India until about 1969, the non- recording type rain gage extensively used by the IndianMeteorological
Department (IMD) is the Symon’s rain gage.
I. Symon’s rain gage.

 The Symon’s rain gage consists of a cylindrical metal case of internal diameter 127 mm
(5 inches) with its base enlarged to 203.2 mm (8 inches) diameter.
 At the top of the case, a funnel is fixed which is provided with a brass rim measuring exactly
127 mm (5 inches) inside diameter.
 The funnel shank is inserted in a receiving glass bottle placed inside the case.
 The receiving glass bottle has a capacity of about 75 to 100 mm of rain fall.
 The case of the rain gage is fixed in masonry or concrete foundation block
600 mm×600 mm ×600 mm which is sunk into the ground such that the funnel rim is exactly
304.8 mm (12 inches) above the ground level.
 The rain water enters the bottle through the funnel and gets collected in the bottle.
 The rain should be measured 3 or 4 times in a day on day of heavy rain fall.
 A cylindrical graduated measuring glass is provided with each instrument, which reads with an
accuracy up to 0. 1mm

Symon’s rain gage

II. Self-Recording Type Rain Gauges
 These rain gages automatically record the intensity of rainfall and the time of its occurrence in
the form of a pen trace on a clock driven chart, from which the total amount of rainfall for the
desired duration may also be determined.
 These gages may be operated over extended period without attention and the recorded

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 observations may be collected from the gages each time after a certain fixed duration.
 The most widely used self-recording type rain gages are
(a) Weighing type rain gauge
(b) Tipping bucket rain gauge
(c) Float type rain gauge
a) Weighing type rain gauge
 Weighing bucket type rain gauge is most common self-recording rain gauge.
 It consists of a receiver bucket supported by a spring or lever balance or some other weighing
mechanism.
 The movement of bucket due to its increasing weight is transmitted to a pen which traces record
or some marking on a clock driven chart.
 Weighing bucket type rain gauge instrument gives a plot of the accumulated (increased) rainfall
values against the elapsed time.
 Thus, the curve so formed is called the mass curve.

b) Tipping bucket rain gauge

 Tipping bucket type rain gauge is a 300 mm sized circular rain gauge adopted for use by US
weather bureau.
 It has 300 mm diameter sharp edged receiver and at the end of the receiver is provided a funnel.
 Pair of buckets are pivoted under this funnel in such a manner that when one bucket receives
0.25mm of precipitation (rainfall), it tips discharging its rainfall into the container, bringing the
other bucket under the funnel.
 Tipping of bucket completes an electric circuit causing the movement of pen to mark on clock
driven receiving drum which carries a recorded sheet.
 These electric pulses generated are recorded at the control room far away from the rain gauge
station.
 This instrument is further suited for digitalizing the output signal.

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 Tipping bucket rain gauge

c) Float (or syphon) type rain gauge

 The working of this type of rain gauge is similar to weighing bucket rain gauge.
 A funnel receives the water which is collected in a rectangular container.
 A float is provided at the bottom of container, and this float raises as the water level rises in
the container.
 Its movement being recorded by a pen moving on a recording drum actuated by a clock work.
 When water rises, this float reaches to the top floating in water, then syphon comes into
operation and releases the water outwards through the connecting pipe.
 Thus all water in box is drained out.
 This rain gauge is adopted as the standard recording rain gauge in India.
 The curve drawn using this data is known as mass curve of rain fall.

Float type rain gauge

 Important points should be kept in while selecting the site for rain gauge stations are
1. The site where a rain gauge is setup should be an open place.

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 2. The distance between the rain gauge and the nearest ob ject should be atleast twice the
height of the object. In no case it should be nearer to the obstruction than 30 m.
3. The rain gauge should never be situated on the side or top of a hill if a suitable site on a
level ground can be found.
4. In the hill, where it is difficult to find level space, the site for the gauge should be chosen
where it is best shielded from high winds, and where the wind does not cause eddies.
5. A fence, if erected to protect the gauge from cattle etc. should be so located that distance of
fence not less than twice its height.

Advantages and dis advantage of recording type rain gauges

Advantages
1. The rain is recorded automatically and therefore, there is no necessity of any attendant.
2. The recording rain gauge also give the intensity of rainfall at any time while the non-
recording rain gauge give the total rainfall in any particular interval of time.
3. As no attendant is required such rain gauge can be installed in far off places also.
4. Possibility of human error can be eliminated.
Dis advantages
1. It is costly in comparison with non-recording type rain gauge.
2. Fault may develop in electric or mechanical mechanism or recording the rainfall.

OPTIMUM NUMBER OF RAIN GAUGES

NETWORK DENSITY
 The rain gauges density or network density is define as the ratio of total area of the catchment
to the total number of rain gauges in the catchment.
 To obtain reliable results, the various rain gauges should be evenly and uniformly distributed
within a given catchment.
 The total number of rain gauges installed within a given catchment area should neither be too
many as to be costly nor should be to less as to give unreliable results.
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has laid down the following norms for
minimum network density.

Network Density
Region Description
Minimum Tolerable
Flat region of temperate, 1 gauge for 600 to 1 gauge for 900 to
I
mediterranean and tropical zones. 900𝑘𝑚2 3000𝑘𝑚2

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 Mountainous area of temperate, 1 gauge for 100 to 1 gauge for 250 to
II
mediterranean and tropical zones. 250𝑘𝑚2 1000 𝑘𝑚2
1 gauge for 1500 to
III Arid and polar zones -
10000 𝑘𝑚2

10% of these rain gauge should be of recording type.

IS recommendations on rain gauge density
As per IS: 4987-1968 recommended the following rain gauge densities
1. One station for every 520 𝑘𝑚2 in plain area, with denser network for the area lying in the
path of low pressure system
2. One station per 260-390 𝑘𝑚2 in regions with average elevation 1000m above the mean sea
level.
3. One station for every 130 𝑘𝑚2 in hilly areas with heavy rainfall.
 It is also recommend that 10% of these rain gauge should be of recording type.
 The optimum number of rain gauge stations that should exist in order that the mean rainfall can
be estimated with an assigned percentage of error is given by

𝐶 2
N =( 𝑣 )
𝑃

Where,
N = optimum number of rain gauges
𝐶𝑣 = coefficient of variation of rainfall values of existing stations
𝑆
= ( 𝑥) 𝑥 100
𝑥

Sx = standard deviation
𝑥 = mean of rainfall values of existing stations = 1/n ∑𝑥𝑖
xi = precipitation in i th station
p = desired degree of error in estimating mean rainfall.
 Both 𝐶𝑣 and p should be expressed in percentage
 If, N ˂ n, no more gauges are required.
 If, N ˃ n, the number of additional rain gauge stations will be (N-n), where n is the number of
existing stations.

ESTIMATION OF MISSING PRECIPITATION

 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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 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
 There are three methods for estimation of missing data.
1. Arithmetic mean method
2. Normal ratio method
3. Inverse distance method by U. S Weather Service.
1. Arithmetic mean method
 According to the arithmetic mean method the missing precipitation 'Px' is given as

Where,
'n' is the number of nearby stations,
'Pi' is precipitation at ith station and
'Px' is missing precipitation.
 The above method is used under the following situations
i. The normal annual rainfall of the missing station is within 10% of the normal annual
rainfall of index stations.
ii. Data of atleast 3 index ststions should be available
iii. The index station should evenly spaced around the missing station and should be close
as possible.

2. Normal ratio method

 In this method the rainfall Pi of the surrounding index stations are weighted by ratio of normal
annual rainfalls.
 According to the normal ratio method the missing precipitation is given as

 Where Px is the missing precipitation for any storm at the interpolation station 'x',
 Pi is the precipitation for the same period for the same storm at the "ith" station of a group of
index stations,
 Nx the normal annual precipitation value for the 'x' station and
 Ni the normal annual precipitation value for 'ith' station.
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 This method is used when the normal precipitation of the index stations differ more than 10%
of the missing station. The data of atleast three index stations should be available, and all these
index stations should be evenly spaced.
1. Inverse distance method (U. S Weather Service)
 According to inverse distance method a set of rectangular co-ordinate axis is passed through
the missing rain gauge station.
 Its co-ordinates are (0, 0).
 The co-ordinates (xi, yi) of each index station, surrounding the missing station are found and
weightage (Wi) is calculated.
 Wi is the inverse of square of its distance from the missing station.
𝑊𝑖 = (1/Di2)
= 1/ ( x 2+ y 2)
i i

 The missing data of the station X is then computed from the equation
∑(𝑃𝑖 𝑊𝑖)
𝑃𝑥 =
∑𝑊𝑖

REPRESENTATION OF RAINFALL DATA-MASS CURVE AND HYETOGRAPH

 The data of annual rainfall can be graphically presented in many ways such as the
chronological chart, bar diagram, the ordinate graph etc.
chronological chart
 The annual rainfall is plotted as the ordinate against the year as the abscissa. The points are
then joined by straight line.

Bar diagram
Rainfall is represented as rectangular bar whose height denotes magnitude of rainfall to some scale.

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Ordinate graph

Presents rainfall in any year as ordinate line drawn to some scale at corresponding year.

Mass Curve of Rainfall

 The mass curve of rainfall is a plot of the cumulative precipitation against time, plotted in
chronological order.
 Records of float type and weighing bucket type gauges are of this form.
 Mass curve of rainfall are very useful in extracting the information on the duration and
magnitude of a storm. Also, intensities at various time interval s in a storm can be obtained by
the slope of the curve.
 Amount of rainfall for any increment of time is the difference between ordinates at beginning
and end of time increments.

 For non-recording rain gauges, mass curves are prepared from knowledge of the approximate
beginning and end of a storm and by using the mass curve of adjacent recording gauge stations
as a guide.
 Mass curve is always a rising curve.
 It may have some horizontal sections which indicate periods of no rainfall.

Hyetograph
 The rate at which rainfall is accumulating at any given instant of time is called rainfall intensity
at that time.
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 A hyetograph is a plot of the intensity of rainfall against the time interval.
 The hyetograph is derived from the mass curve and is usually represented as a bar chart.
 It is very convenient way of representing the characteristics of a storm and is particularly
important in the development of design storms to predict extreme floods.
 The area under a hyetograph represents the total precipitation received in the period.
 The time interval used depends on the purpose, in urban drainage problems small durations are
used while flood flow computations in larger catchments the intervals are about 6h.

COMPUTATION OF MEAN PRECIPITATION OVER A CATCHMENT

 In order to compute the average rainfall over a basin or catchment area, the rainfall is measured
at a number of rain-gauge stations suitably located in the area.
 A network should be planned as to have a representative picture of the areal distribution of
rainfall.
 If a basin or catchment area contains more than one rain gauge station, the computation of
average precipitation may be done by
1. Arithmetic average method
2. Thiessen polygon method
3. Isohyetal method
4. Grid point method
1. Arithmetic average method
 If the rainfall is uniformly distributed on its areal pattern, the simplest method of estimating
average rainfall is to compute the average of the recorded rainfall values at various stations.
 Thus, if P1, P2, P3,……, Pn are the precipitation values measured at n gauge stations.
 we have,

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 This method can be used in regions smaller than 500 km2 when the gauges are rather uniformly
distributed.
2. Thiessen polygon method
 Thiessen method is a more common method of weighing the rain-gauge observation with
respect to the area.
 This method is more accurate than the arithmetic average method.
 The procedure to be followed in computing the average rainfall depth is;
i) Join the adjacent rain-gauge stations A, B, C, D,….. By straight lines.
ii) Draw the perpendicular bisectors of each of these lines.
iii) A Thiessen Polygon is thus constructed. The polygon formed by the perpendicular bisectors
around a station encloses an area which is everywhere closer to that station than any other
station. Find the area of each of these polygons.
iv) Multiply the area of each Thiessen polygon by the rainfall value of the enclosed station.
v) Find the total area (ΣA) of the basin.
vi) Compute the average precipitation depth from the equation

Fig: Theisson polygon

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 3. Isohyetal method
 The basic assumption in the Thiessen polygon method is that a rain-gauge station best
represents the area which is close to it.
 However, this may not be always valid
 An isohyet is a line, on a rainfall map of the basin, joining places of equal rainfall readings.
 An isohyetal map showing contours of equal rainfall represents a more accurate picture of the
rainfall distribution over the basin.
 This method can be preferred for orographic precipitation.
 The computation steps to be followed for the application of this method are;
i) From the rainfall values recorded at various rain-gauge stations, the isohyetal map is prepared
for the storm causing the rainfall over the area.
ii) Measure the areas enclosed between successive isohyets with the help of planimeter.
iii) Multiply each of these areas by the average rainfall between the isohyets.
 iv) The average rainfall is then computed from the expression.

Isohyetal method

PROBABLE MAXIMUM PRECIPITATION

 PMP is used in the design of major hydraulic structures such as spillways in large dams.
 The greatest depth of rainfall that can occur in a given duration at a given location is
known as the probable maximum, or the possible maximum precipitation abbreviated as
PMP.
 It is the upper limit of the physically possible precipitation depth.
 It is defined as that depth of precipitation which for a given area and duration can be
reached but not exceeded under known meteorological conditions.
 If PMP for a given catchment is estimated., then it can be used to provide an estimate of
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 the probable maximum flood abbreviated as PMF, after appropriate adjustments for
infiltration losses etc.
 The PMF has virtually no risk of being exceeded.

INFILTRATION
 The water entering the soil at the ground surface after overcoming resistance to flow is called
infiltration.
 Infiltration fills the voids in the soil.
 Excess water moves down by gravity and it is known as percolation.
 Percolation takes place till water reaches ground water table.
 For continuous infiltration to occur it is essential that percolation should also be continuous,
which is also dependent of ground water movement.
 Infiltration process: The soil medium where infiltration is to be observed may be considered
as a small container covered with a wire gauge mesh.
 If water is poured over the gauge, part of it enters the soil and some part over flows.
 Further the runoff and infiltration depend on the condition of soil.
 When soil reaches saturated condition infiltration stops and all input becomes runoff.
 Usually at the beginning of a storm infiltration is more and runoff is less and when storm
continues infiltration becomes lesser and runoff become constant.
 The volume of rainfall that will result in runoff is called Rainfall excess.
 Infiltration rate (f): It is actually the prevailing rate at which the water is entering the given
soil at any given instant of time.
 It is expressed in cm/hr (i.e. depth of water entering soil per unit time).
 Infiltration Capacity (fp): It is the maximum rate at which a soil in any given condition is
capable of absorbing water.
If f = fp when i ≥fp
f = i when i <fp where ‘i’ is intensity of rainfall
Factors affecting infiltration Capacity:
 The variations in the infiltration capacity are large. The infiltration capacity is influenced by
many factors. Some factors contribute to long term variation, but some cause temporary
variations.
 Important factors are the following:
(i) Soil Texture and Structure:
 It is already made clear that the water cannot continue to enter soil more rapidly than it is
transmitted downward. The conditions at the surface, therefore, cannot increase infiltration
unless the transmission capacity of the soil profile is adequate.
 The continuity of non-capillary or large pores provides easy paths for percolating water.

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 If the subsoil formation has coarse texture the water may infiltrate into the soil so quickly that
no water will be left for runoff even if rainfall is quite heavy.
 On the contrary clayey soils after soaking some water in the initial stages of the rainfall may
swell considerably. It makes the soil almost watertight and infiltration may get reduced to
practically negligible extent.
(ii) Conditions at Soil Surface:
Even if the subsoil has excellent under drainage but at the surface soil pores are sealed due to
turbid water or by in wash of fine soil particles it may prevent entry of water into the soil and
infiltration rate will be low.
(iii) Soil-Moisture Content:
Infiltration rate will depend on initial moisture conditions of soil. When the soil is fairly dry
the rate of infiltration into the soil is quite high. The infiltration rate diminishes as the soil-

moisture storage capacity is exhausted. For the second storm in succession, the soil will have
lesser rate of infiltration than the first.
(iv) Type of Vegetative Cover:
Vegetative cover affects surface entry of water significantly. The vegetation or mulches protect
the soil surface from impact of rain drops. The lengthy and extensive root system penetrate the
soil and increases its porosity. Organic matter from crops promotes a crumbly by structure and
improves soil permeability. Forest canopy protects soil surface whereas row crops provide less
protection to soil.
(v) Soil Temperature:
If saturated soil mass gets frozen due to severe low temperature it becomes nearly impermeable.
It affects the infiltration.
(vi) Human Activities on Soil Surface:
If the soil surface gets compacted due to construction of roads, operation of tractors and other
farm implements and machinery the porosity of the soil is decreased. As a result bigger pores
are almost eliminated making soil impermeable. It reduces the infiltration rates appreciably.

MEASUREMENT OF INFILTRATION
 Infiltration rates are required in many hydrological problems such as runoff estimation, soil
moisture studies in agriculture, etc.
 The different methods of determination of infiltration are
1. Infiltrometers
a. Flooding type Infiltrometers
b. Rainfall simulators
2. Hydrograph analysis method
1. Infiltrometers
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 In flooding type Infiltrometers, water is applied in form of a sheet, with constant depth of
flooding.
 The depletion of water depth is observed with respect to time.
 In case of rainfall simulators water is applied by sprinkling at a constant rate in excess of
infiltration capacity and the runoff occurring is also recorded.
 Infiltro-meters adopted in practice are,
a. Flooding type Infiltrometers
i. Simple (Tube Type) Infiltrometers
 It is essentially a metal cylinder with openings at both ends.

 It has a diameter of 30 cm and length of 60 cm.

 This is driven into the ground as shown and water is poured from the top till the pointer level
as shown.
 As infiltration continues the depleted volume of water is made up by adding water from a
burette or measuring jar to maintain constant water level.
 Knowing the volume of water added during different time intervals the infiltration capacity
curve is plotted.
 The experiment is continued till a uniform rate of infiltration is obtained, which may take 2 to
3 hours.
 A tube infiltrometer has a drawback that infiltration in it does not represent or simulate the
actual field conditions because the water tends to disperse laterally after coming out at the
bottom.

i. Double ring Infiltrometers

 To overcome the drawback of tube infiltrometer a Double ring Infiltro-meter is widely used.
 It consists of two consecutive rings driven into the ground.
 The inner ring has a diameter of 30 cm and outer ring has a diameter of 60 cm.
 A constant water depth of 5 cm is maintained in both the rings.
 The outer ring provides a water jacket to the water infiltrating from the inner ring and thus
simulates the natural conditions.
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 The water depths in both the rings are maintained constant during the observation period.
 The measurement of water volume added into the inner ring is only noted.
 The experiment is carried out till constant infiltration arte is obtained.
 To prevent any disturbance or accidental fall of foreign matter the top of the infiltrometer is
covered with a perforated disc.

 As the flooding type infiltrometer measures the infiltration characteristics at a spot only, a large
number of pre-planned experiments are necessary to obtain representative infiltration
characteristics for an entire.
 Some of the chief disadvantages of flooding-type infiltrometers are:
I. The raindrop impact effect is not simulated.
2. The driving of tube or rings disturbs the soil structure; and
3. The results of infiltrometers depend to some extent on size with the larger meters giving less
rates than the smaller lonest, this is due to the border effect.
b. Rainfall Simulator
In this a small plot of land of about 2 m x4 m size is provided with a series of nozzles on longer
side with arrangements to collect and measure the surface runoff rate. The specially designed
nozzles produce raindrops falling from a height of 2 m and are capable of producing various
intensities of rainfall. Experiments are conducted under controlled conditions with various
combinations of intensities and durations and the surface runoff rates and volumes are
measured in each case. Using the water budget equation involving the volume of rainfall,
infiltration and runoff, site infiltration rate and its variation with lime are estimated. If the
rainfall intensity is higher than the infiltration rate, infiltration capacity values are obtained.
Rainfall simulator type infiltrometers give lower values than flooding type infiltrometers. This
is due to effect of the rainfall impact and turbidity of the surface water present in former.

2. Hydrograph Analysis
 Reasonable estimation of the infiltration capacity of a small watershed can be obtained by

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 analysing measured runoff hydrographs and corresponding rain fall records.
 If sufficiently good rainfall records and runoff hydrographs corresponding to isolated storms
in a small watershed with fairly homogeneous soils are available.

Infiltration Capacity Curve:

 it is the graphical representation of variation of infiltration capacity with time, during and a
little after rain many factors affect infiltration capacity of a given soil.
 Typical infiltration capacity curves for a soil are as follows.

 The data from Infiltrometers can be used to plot an infiltration capacity curve.
 Infiltration capacity curve is a decaying curve which shows high infiltration capacity rate at
beginning and decreases exponentially and attains minimum or constant value over time.
 Many mathematical equations have been proposed to describe the shape of the curve.
 The most commonly used equation is Horton‘s Equation( 1933).
The infiltration rate (f) at any time (t) is given by Horton‘s equation
𝑓 = 𝑓𝑐 + (𝑓0 − 𝑓𝑐)−𝑘𝑡
𝑓0= initial rate of infiltration capacity
𝑓𝑐= final constant rate of infiltration at saturation
K= a constant depending primarily upon soil and vegetation
shaded area obtained as shown from the graph also known as field capacity is the amount of
rainfall which can be absorbed by soil.
 This equation when conjunctively used with rain fall data (hyetograph) can be used to calculate
surface runoff volumes occurring during a storm.
 Area under curve in any time interval represents depth of water infiltered during that period.
 Cumulative infiltration capacity is the accumulation of infiltration volume over a time period
since start of process.
𝑡
F(t) =∫ 𝑓(𝑡)𝑑𝑡 0

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 EVAPORATION

 It is the process by which a liquid changes to gaseous state at the free surface through transfer
of heat energy.
 Water from liquid or solid state passes into the vapour state and is diffused into
atmosphere.
 In an exposed water body like lakes or ponds, water molecules are in continuous motion with
arrange of velocities (faster at the top and slower at the bottom).
 Additional heat on water body increases the velocities.
 When some water molecules possess sufficient kinetic energy they may cross over the water
surface.
 Simultaneously the water molecules in atmosphere surrounding the water body may penetrate
the water body due to condensation.
 If the number of molecules leaving the water body is greater than the number of molecules
arriving or returning, difference in vapour pressure occurs, leading to evaporation.

Factors affecting Evaporation

1. Vapour pressure difference:

 The number of molecules leaving or entering a water body depends on the vapour pressure of
water body at the surface and also the vapour pressure of air.
 Higher water temperature leads to high vapour pressure at surface and tends to increase the rate
of evaporation.
 High humidity in air tends to increase vapour pressure in air and in turn reduces rate of
evaporation.
Dalton‘s law of evaporation states that ―Evaporation is proportional to the difference in
vapour pressures of water and air.
E= k (ew- ea)
Where E = daily evaporation
ew= saturated vapour pressure of water at a given temperature
ea = vapour pressure of air
k = proportionality constant
Evaporation continues till ew= ea
If ew<ea, condensation takes place (gas to liquid)

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 2. Temperature of air and water:
 The rate of emission of molecules from a water body is a function of its temperature.
 At higher temperature molecules of water have greater energy to escape.
 Hence maximum evaporation from water bodies takes place in summer.
 It has been estimated that for every 1oC rise in atmospheric temperature increases 5 cm of
evaporation annually.
3. Wind Velocity:
 When wind velocity is more the saturated air (humid air) is drifted away and dry air comes in
contact with water surface which is ready to absorb moisture.
 Hence rate of evaporation is dependent on wind velocity.
 It has been estimated that 10% increase in wind velocity increases 2 – 3% of evaporation.
 Wind aid in removing the evaporated water vapour from the zone of evaporation and
consequently creates greater scope for evaporation.
 However, if the wind velocity is large enough to remove all the evaporated water vapour, any
further increase in wind velocity does not influence the evaporation.
 Thus the rate of evaporation increases with the wind speed up to a critical speed beyond which
any further increase in the wind speed has no influence on the evaporation rate.
 This cri1ical wind-speed value is a function of the size of the water surface.
 For large water bodies high-speed turbulent winds are needed to cause maximum rate of
evaporation.
4. Quality of water:
 The rate of evaporation of fresh water is greater than saline water (Specific gravity of saline
water is greater than that of fresh water).
 It is established that saline water has lesser vapour pressure and it is observed that evaporation
from fresh water is 3 – 4% more than sea water.
5. Atmospheric pressure and Altitude:
 If other factors remaining the same (a decrease in the barometric pressure) as in high altitudes,
increases evaporation.
 Evaporation decreases with increase in atmospheric pressure as the rate of diffusion from water
body into the air is suppressed.
 At higher altitude the atmospheric pressure is usually lesser and there by evaporation rate is
higher.

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 The decrease in atmospheric pressure would increase the rate of evaporation because the
vapour pressure of air also decreases with atmosphere pressure and thus increases the
vapour pressure deficit.
 The atmospheric pressure normally decreases with increase in altitude.
 As the altitude increases not only the atmospheric pressure but also the temperature
decreases. Thus, the increase in evaporation due to decrease in atmospheric pressure
may be nullified by the corresponding decrease in temperature.
 Therefore it may be difficult to investigate the effect of atmospheric pressure alone
while the other conditions remains the same.
6. Depth of water body:
 Evaporation from shallow water bodies is greater when compared to deep water bodies as the
water at lower levels in deep water bodies is not heated much and vapour pressure at lower
levels is also reduced.
7. Size or water Surface:
 The depth of evaporation from larger surface areas is less compared to evaporation from
smaller surface areas, although of course the total volume of water evaporated will be
more in the former.
 The reason for this phenomenon is that the air moving across a large lake or reservoir
will gradually increase its water content and thus loses its water holding capacity.
 However. with other conditions remaining same the difference in evaporation rates from
different sized surfaces will be considerably affected by the humidity of the incoming air.
 If this is initially high, then clearly it will be modified only slightly even after a lengthy passage
across a large lake.
 There will, thus be little difference in evaporation rates from large and small water surfaces
8. Radiation:
 Since the evaporation requires continuous supply of energy which is derived mainly from solar
radiation.
 At a given place if the monthly evaporation depths and monthly solar radiation are
plotted against the lime in months these two curves show a very close relationship
following the same trend.
 In the regions near equator where the annual solar radiation is large the annual evaporation
is also large.
9. Nature or Evaporating Surface:
 All surfaces exposed to precipitation are potentially evaporating surfaces.

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 They may be broadly classified into three groups: land surfaces, snow surfaces and water
bodies.
 The rate of evaporation from a saturated soil surface is approximately same as that from an
adjacent water surface of same temperature.
 Evaporation decreases as the soil begins to dry. The rate of evaporation, is limited by
availability of water, or evaporation opportunity.
 The rate of evaporation from a soil surface is further dependent upon presence or
absence of vegetal cover.
 For the same evaporation opportunity, evaporation rate decreases in following order :
bare ground, grass and crop lands, light forests and dense forests.
 Evaporation from a surface covered with snow can occur only when vapour pressure of
overlying air is less than vapour pressure of snow surface, ie. when the dew point of
air is less than temperature of snow.
 For a given difference between surface and dew point temperatures evaporation from a
snow surface is relatively small compared to that from a water surface.
MEASUREMENT OF EVAPORATION
Using Evaporation Pan/Evaporimeter or Atmometers
a. Atmometers
1. Livingstone Atmometers
2. Piche Atmometers
b. Evaporation Pans
1. Class A Evaporation Pan/Land pan/ Surface pan
2. ISI Standard pan
3. Sunken pan
4. Floating pan
 Various methods of estimating evaporation by empirical equations can be used to estimate
the evaporation from lakes and reservoirs.
 But these methods are not directly applicable in design problems and also in many cases
required data may not be available.
 However, most estimates of reservoir evaporation both for design and operation have been
made using the measured evaporation.
 Evaporation measurements are also required to validate the empirical equations that are
developed.

EVAPORATION PANS
 The pans are commonly used as evaporation measuring devices because they are inexpensive
and simple to instrument.

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 In evaporation pans, the depth of evaporation during any time interval is measured as
the drop in water surface level in the pan in that interval corrected for precipitation. If
any obtained from an adjacent or a nearby standard rain gauge. The observations are usually
taken on daily basis and after taking the measurement on each day the water level in the
pond is restored to a stipulated value by adding or removing required amount of water.
Any cylindrical vessel of 1.2 10 1.8 m diameter, 0.3 m high with open 10p and made
of galvanised iron sheet can be used as an evaporation pan. The water level within the
pan is maintained between 5 10 7.5 cm below the rim of the pan.
i. Class A Evaporation Pan/Land pan/ Surface pan
It is most common type. This pan is 1210mm (4 ft) in diameter, 255 mm (10 in.) deep and is
mounted 150 mm(6 in.) above the ground on a wooden frame. The pan is filled with water and
the depth of water is maintained between 180 mm and 200mm. The drop in water level in one
day is measured with a hook gauge in a stilling well. The pan is normally made of unpainted
galvanized iron sheet.The pan is placed ona wooden platform of 15 cm height above the ground
to allow free circulation of air below the pan. Evaporation measurements are 1nade by
measuring the depth of water with a hook gauge in a stilling well. The evaporimeter is installed
where other meteorological instruments are kept. The pan coefficient is about 0.6 to 0.8 with
an average value of 0.7.

ii. ISI Standard pan

This evaporation pan should confirm to IS – 5973:1976 and is also called Class A pan. It
consists of a circular copper vessel of 1220 mm effective diameter, 255 mm effective depth
and a wall thickness of 0.9 mm. A thermometer is assembled to record the variation in

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temperature. A wire mesh cover with hexagonal openings is provided at the top to prevent entry
of foreign matter. A fixed gauge housed in a stilling well as shown in figure is provided. During
evaporation measurement a constant water level is maintained at the top level of fixed gauge.
For this purpose water has to be added or removed periodically. The water level measurements
are done using micrometer hook gauge. The entire assembly is mounted on a level wooden
platform.

iii. Sunken pan

This type of pan used by United States Bureau of Plant Industry (USBPI) is 183 cm in
diameter and 61 m deep buried in the ground such that the top of its rim is 10 cm above
the ground surface . The water surface in the pan is maintained within ±15 mm or the
ground level. Evaporation is measured by means of a pointer gauge in a stilling well outside
the pan. The stilling well and the pan are interconnected by a small tube. The Colorado sunken
pan is square in shape of side 91.5 cm and 46 cm deep.The pan coefficient is 0.75 to 0.86
with an average value of 0.78.
It has the following disadvantages:
i. Difficult to detect leaks.
ii. Extra care is needed to keep the surrounding area free from tall grass, dust, etc
iii. Expensive to install

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 iv. Floating pan
With view to simulate the characteristics by drum floats in the middle of a raft (4.25 m x 4.87m)
is set afloat in a lake. The water level in the pan is kept at the same level as the lake leaving a
rim of 75mm. Diagonal baffles provided in the pan reduce the surging in the pan due to wave
action. Its high cost of installation and maintenance together with the difficulty involved in
performing measurements are its main disadvantages. The pan coefficient is generally taken as
0.80.The pan more or less represents the characteristics of a lake

Pan coefficient:
It has been correlated that evaporation from a pan is not exactly the same as that taking place
from a water body. Hence while using a pan measurement data for measuring evaporation from
a lake or a water body, a correction factor has to be applied or multiplied by a pan co-
efficient.The evaporation pans adopted in practice have a pan coefficient of 0.7 to 0.8.

Drawbacks of pans:
I. They differ in the heat-storing capacity and heat transfer from the sides and bottom. The
sunken pan and floating pan aim to reduce this deficiency. As a result of this factor the
evaporation from a pan depends to a certain extent on its size while a pan of 3 m diameter is
known to give a value which is about the same as from a neighbouring large lake; a pan of size
1.0 m diameter indicates about 20% excess evaporation than that of 3 m diameter pan.
2. The height of the rin1 in an evaporation pan affects the wind action over the surface. Also it
casts a shadow of variable magnitude over the water surface.
3. The heat-transfer characteristics of the pan material is different from that of the reservoir.

Methods to control evaporation from lakes:

Following are some recommended measures to reduce evaporation from water surfaces.

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 1. Reducing Surface Area:
 The volume of water lost as evaporation is directly proportional to the exposed water
spread area.
 Therefore the evaporation can be reduced by reducing the surface area
i. Constructing reservoirs with minimum ratio of area to storage.
ii. Construct deep reservoirs in place of wider ones.
iii. Storing water below ground
iv. Storing water in one large reservoir instead of several small reservoirs.
v. Selecting proper reservoir sites
vi. Straightening stream channels and thus reducing meandering of surface areas of
water.
2. Mechanical Covers:
 This method applies mostly to small reservoirs.
 The covers include roofs, floating rafts and wind breaks, floating wax blocks, floating light
weight concrete blocks.
 Removal of aquatic plant life near the water surface may also save loss of water through
transpiration.
3. Chemical Films:
 This method consists of applying a thin chemical film on the water surface to reduce
evaporation.
 Currently this is the only feasible method available for reduction of evaporation of reservoirs
up to moderate size.
 Certain chemicals such as cetyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol form monomolecular layers on a
water surface.
 These layers act as evaporation inhibitors by preventing the water molecules to escape past
them.
 The thin film formed has following desirable features:
i. The film is strong and flexible and does not break easily due to wave action.
ii. If punctured due to the impact of raindrops or by birds, insects, etc. the film closes back
soon after.
iii. It is pervious to oxygen and carbon dioxide: the water quality is therefore not affected
by its presence.
It is colourless, odourless and nontoxic.

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