3.0

Average Course Rating

How does water move through the landscape? How do we make predictions about how streamflow, groundwater, and soil moisture will respond to climate change and landscape change? In this course we will examine the processes controlling the movement of water, and the use of models to make hydrologic predictions. In particular the course covers the water balance, radiation balance and energy balance at the terrestrial earth surface; evaporation, transpiration, and their relationship to plant physiology and ecology; snow and ice; shallow groundwater, recharge, and base flow; runoff generation processes, and the role of surface and subsurface landscape structure. We will use simple model codes to gain an appreciation for the structure, calibration/validation, uncertainty, and post-processing of hydrologic models. Although the course is intended as a follow-on from Hydrology 570.353/653, it can be taken by any student with sufficient background, and with the consent of the instructor. Major assessment is a term paper (no exam).