Water cycle and flow

Course goals

Content

The course Water Cycle and Flow consists of two main parts. The first part (weeks 1-6) focusses on obtaining knowledge on the terminology, methodologies and tools for understanding of the basic aspects of the water cycle and water flow in natural systems considering the main five water types. 

It focusses on: 

• the basic aspects of atmospheric water, such as the generation of precipitation, measurement of precipitation, and the estimation of evaporation;  

• the main components and processes that dominate the cryosphere including snowfall and –melt and glacier dynamics; 

• basic terms and major laws (e.g. Darcy's law) that describe water flow in the subsurface, calculating volume fluxes for steady-state groundwater flow cases and soil-water physics;  

• basic aspects of surface water, such as methods for estimating the stage, water velocity, discharge of rivers and streams and as well as major laws that describe fluid mechanics (e.g. Bernoulli's law) for several cases. 

• the main processes and major laws that describe flow resistance and friction, including bed roughness, the development of boundary layer flow, and flow induced forces (drag and lift).  

A series of e-lectures combined with live (interactive) lecture sessions (twice per week) will discuss the theory, terminology and methodologies in studying the water cycle and water flow in natural systems. In addition, tutorial sessions are scheduled to provide training and develop skills on applying major laws describing water flow for the main water types. This part will be evaluated by both an exam (60% of grade) and assignments (5% of grade).  

The second part (week 7-9) focusses on developing skills to interpret and analyse measurements of water flows from lab/field experiments. Students will do a lab experiment with a flume and write an essay (25%). Essays are handed in and evaluated by the lecturers but will also be peer-reviewed and evaluated by fellow students. The peer-review reports to fellow students will also be evaluated (10% of grade).