Hydrology Flashcards
Synder Method
- Observe storm
- Form standard UH and find Ct and Cp
- Use Ct and Cp for similar catchment
- Construct hydrograph for design storm (tR, tpR, tb, W50, W75)
tR
Required rainfall duration [h]
tpR
Required time to peak runoff [h]
qpR
Required peak runoff [m3/s/km2/cm]
tr
rainfall duration [h]
tp
time to peak runoff [h]
qp
peak runoff per unit basin area per unit of rainfall [m3/s/km2/cm]
Ct
lag coefficient
Cp
peak coefficient
W50 and W75
time width at 50% and 75% peak flow
tb
base time [h]
Placement of W50 and W75
1/3 before peak, 2/3 after peak
SCS Dimensionless Hydrograph Process
- Find Tp and qp for the design storm
- Plot Tp, qp (and tr if given)
Limitations of synthetic unit hydrograph
- empirical method (does not describe underlying physics)
- event-centric method (rainfall and runoff considered in isolated to other catchment conditions)
- To go beyond these limits must reimage catchment from physical principles
Water Storage
- Snow
inflow = snowfall
storage = snowpack
outflow = snowmelt - Interception
inflow = precipitation
storage = vegetation wetting
outflow = stemflow, throughfall, evaporation - water bodies
Linear Reservoirs Definition
Outflow is proportional to storage
Linear Reservoirs Eqn (not given)
Q = S/K (K is a constant)
Nash Reservoirs Definition
A linear reservoirs output becomes the input to another one in series
n meaning (Nash reservoirs)
number of reservoirs in series
k assumption (Nash reservoirs)
The same for all reservoirs
Effect of landuse on hydrographs
Water is accelerated through environment, hydrograph peak is higher and earlier
Evapotranspiration def
combination of evaporation and transpiration
Evaporation def
liquid water is converted to water vapour and removed from the evaporating surface
Transpiration def
Vaporisation of liquid water contained in plant tissues and vapour removal to the atmosphere
ET drivers
- heating by solar radiation
- heating by geothermal
- heating by re-radiation
- properties of vegetation/crop
- energy required to vaporise
- inhibition of vapour transport by an aerodynamic boundary layer
Different kinds of ET
- potential evapotranspiration
- accounts for evaporation from water bodies or bare soil (penman eqn) - Reference Evapotranspiration
- accounts for two types of reference vegetation (tall or short crops) (penman monteith) - Actual Evapotranspiration
- accounts for all other vegetation and environmental factors
ETp
potential evapotranspiration [m/d]
ρw
water density [kg/m3]
λ
latent heat of vaporisation [MJ/kg]
Sn
Solar radiation [MJ/m2/d]
Ln
Re radiation [MJ/m2/d]
G
Soil heat flux [MJ/m2/d]
ρa
air density [kg/m3]
cp
specific heat of air [MJ/kg/C0]
es
saturated vapour pressure [kPa]
ea
actual vapour pressure [kPa]
ra
aerodynamic resistance [d/m]
Δ
vapour pressure gradient [kPa/C0]