Introduction to

hydrology
PREPARED BY: ENGR. MARJORIE B. GANDEZA
Hydrology
• Science of water

• Science that deals with the

occurrence, circulation and
distribution of water of the
earth
HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

The movement of water from the

sea through the air to the land
and back to the sea.
HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
 Stages of
Hydrologic
Cycle

EVAPORATION
- The process by which
water changes from a
liquid to a gas or vapor.

Evapotranspiration and
Transpiration
 Stages of
Hydrologic
Cycle

CONDENSATION
- The process by
which water
vapor in the air is
changed into
liquid water
 Stages of
Hydrologic
Cycle
PRECIPITATION
- Water is released
from clouds.
- It is the primary
connection in the
water cycle that
provides for the
delivery of
atmospheric
water to the
earth.
Stages of
Hydrologic Cycle
GROUNDWATER
-comes from the
precipitation that
infiltrates downward
from the land
surface.
- Another term is
“aquifer”
- Unconfined and
confined aquifers
Stages of Hydrologic Cycle
 RUN-OFF
- Precipitation runoff over the landscape.
- Meteorological factors affecting runoff:
1. Type of precipitation
2. Rainfall Intensity
3. Rainfall amount
4. Rainfall duration
5. Distribution of rainfall over the drainage basin
6. Direction of storm movement
7. Precipitation that occurred earlier and resulting soil
moisture.
8. Other meteorological and climatic conditions
 Stages of Hydrologic Cycle
 RUN-OFF
Physical Characteristics affecting runoff
1. Land use
2. Vegetation
3. Soil type
4. Drainage area
5. Basin shape
6. Elevation
7. Topography
8. Drainage network patterns
CONDENSATION & PRECIPITATION

 CONDENSATION

- Occurs when water vapor changes to a liquid.

- For condensation to take place, the air must be
saturated and there must be a surface on which
the vapor can condense.
CLOUDS
- Visible aggregates of
minute droplets of
water or tiny crystals of
ice
- One form of
condensation
- Are classified on the
basis of two criteria :
form and height
 CLOUD FORMS
AND HEIGHTS
Three basic cloud forms
:
1. Cirrus – high, white
and thin
2. Cumulus – globular,
individual cloud
masses
3. Stratus- sheets or
layers
CLOUDS

 Cloud heights can be either:

1. High- with bases above 6000 m (20,000 ft)

2. Middle – from 2000 to 6000 meters
3. Low – below 2000 meters (6500 ft)
 FOG
 consists of visible cloud water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near
the Earth's surface.
 Generally considered an atmospheric hazard, is a cloud with its base at or very near
the ground.
 Fogs formed by cooling include:
1. Radiation fog – from radiation cooling of the ground and adjacent air.
2. Advection fog – when warm and moist air is blown over a cold surface.
3. Upslope fog – created when relatively humid air moves up a slope and cools
adiabatically.
 Those formed by evaporation are:
1. Steam fog
2. frontal fog
 Dew and White Frost

 Dew is the condensation of water vapor on

objects that have radiated sufficient to lower
their temperature below the dew point of the
surrounding air.
 White frost forms when the dew point of the air
is below freezing.
PRECIPITATION FORMATION
 There are several forces acting on a water droplet
or ice crystal in a cloud.
1. Winds
2. Atmospheric stability
3. Gravity
4. Drag (friction)
 For precipitation to form, million of cloud droplets
must somehow coalesce into droplets large
enough to sustain themselves during their descent.
 PRECIPITATION
FORMATION
Two mechanisms that have
been proposed to explain this
phenomenon are:
1. Collision-Coalescence
Process
- As water droplets fall
through a cloud, the larger
droplets fall faster than the
smaller ones, thus they collide.
- If the droplets coalesce a
larger drop is formed.
- If it gets big enough rain
will fall.
PRECIPITATION
FORMATION
2. Bergeron-Findeisen
- Vapor pressure over ice is less
than vapor pressure over
water of the same
temperature.
- Thus, water molecules move
form water to ice and freeze
on the ice
- If the crystals get large
enough they will fall.
- If they fall through cold air
they will stay frozen and it will
snow.
- If they fall through warm air
they will melt and it will rain.
CAUSES OF PRECIPITATION

 OROGRAPHIC
- this occurs when
warm, humid air cools as
it rises over a high
elevation.
- as air strikes, it is
lifted and cooled.
CAUSES OF PRECIPITATION

 CONVECTIVE
- When warm,
humid air rises after
being warmed from a
surface below.
- As the air rises
quickly, it expands,
cools and water
vapour condenses.
 CAUSES OF PRECIPITATION

 FRONTAL
- When warm, moist air rises
over cold air.
- As the warm air gently
rises over the cool air,
clouds form and
condensation occurs.
 TYPES OF PRECIPITATION
 RAIN
- Approximate size: 0.5 to 5mm
- Generally produced by nimbostratus or cumulonimbus

 SNOW
- Approximate size: 1mm to 2 cm
-produced in supercooled clouds where water vapor is
deposited as ice crystals that remain frozen during their
descent.

 MIST
- Approximate size: 1mm to 2 cm
- Associated with stratus clouds. Smaller water droplets.
 TYPES OF PRECIPITATION
 DRIZZLE
- Approximate size: less than 0.5mm
- Smaller droplets of rain, yet larger than mist

 SLEET
- Approximate size: 0.5 to 5mm
- Small spherical to lumpy ice particles that form when
raindrops freeze while falling through a layer of
subfreezing air.

 GLAZE
- Approximate size: 1mm to 2cm thick
- produced when super cooled raindrops freeze on
contact with solid objects.
 TYPES OF PRECIPITATION
 RIME
- Approximate size: variable accumulations
- deposits usually consists of ice feathers that point into the
wind.
- deposit of ice crystals formed by the freezing of
supercooled fog or cloud droplets on objects whose
surface temperature is below freezing.

 HAIL
- Approximate size: 5mm to 10cm or larger
- precipitation in the form of hard, rounded pellets or
irregular lumps of ice.

 GRAUPEL
- Approximate size:2 to 5 mm
- sometimes called soft hail, graupel forms as rime collects
on snow crystals to produce irregular masses of soft ice.
- watery hail
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT

 RAIN MEASUREMENT
- rain is the most common form of
precipitation.
- most common instruments used
to measure rain:
1. standard rain gauge
2. tipping bucket
gauge
3. weighing gauge
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT

 SNOW MEASUREMENT
- the two most common measurements of snow are depth and
water equivalent.

- a disdrometer is an instrument used to measure the drop size

distribution and velocity of falling hydrometeors.
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT
 RAINFALL AVERAGING
METHOD

1. Arithmetic mean

2. Thiessen Polygon Method

3. Isohyetal Method
PROBLEM NO. 1

A small urban watershed has four

rainfall gages located in the figure.
Total rainfall recorded at each gage
during a storm event is listed.
Compute the mean aerial rainfall for
this storm using Theissen’s Method.
Answer: 75.98 mm
Thank You! 