HYDROLOGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The course is an introduction to hydrology and hydrological cycle with particular emphasis on application aspects related to water and environmental engineering in a changing climate.

The course mainly is composed by:

• lectures;
• guided applications, aimed at the practical application of the concepts and methods of most commonly used analysis and modeling of hydrology and related natural hazard mitigation;
• guided tour of the DICAR green roof, to illustrate concepts of hydrological monitoring.  

Basic knowledge of Hydraulics, use of spreadsheets (e.g. Excel) and programming languages (preferably Matlab).

Attendance is strongly suggested, as intermediate tests will be assigned.

1. INTRODUCTION

Course presentation. Development of hydrological science.

2. INTRODUCTION TO THE HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE 

Hydrological cycle components. Precipitation. Evaporation and evapotranspiration. Runoff and streamflows. Groundwater. Human effects on the hydrological cycle. Distribution of water resources on earth.

3. INTRODUCTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate and weather. Structure of the atmosphere. Earth radiation budget. Greenhouse effect. Emission scenarios and simulation of future climate. Climate change adaptation strategies.

4. HYDROLOGICAL INFORMATION

Instruments and methods for measuring hydrological variables. Sources of information. Hydrological and Hydrographic services. Real time data collection networks. Radar and satellites. Reanalysis data.

5. WATERSHED AND DRAINAGE NETWORK CHARACTERIZATION USING GIS

Watershed delineation. Geomorphologic characterization of watersheds. Streamflow network characterization. Horton and Strahler’s laws.

6. INTRODUCTION TO PROBABILITY THEORY AND STATISTICS

Statistical description of data. Probability definitions. Probability function. Properties of probability functions. Random variables, cumulative distribution function (cdf) and probability density function (pdf). Discrete parametric cdf. Continuous parametric cdf. Return period and risk. Distribution fitting and goodness of fit assessment. Statistical tests. Regression analysis.

7. PRECIPITATION

Formation of precipitation. Precipitation types. Distribution of precipitation. Estimation of areal precipitation. Extreme precipitation frequency analysis. Intensity duration frequency curves. Regional analysis of extreme precipitation.

8. RUNOFF AND STREAMFLOWS

Streamflow regimes. Streamflow measurements. Flow duration curves. Formation of runoff and streamflows. Infiltration. Hydrograph components.

9. FLOOD HYDROGRAPH ANALYSIS

Hydrograph separation. Time of concentration estimation. Peak discharge estimation. Regional methods for peak discharge estimation. Design hyetographs. Rainfall-runoff models. Rational method. Unit hydrograph. Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph. Conceptual models (time-area, linear reservoir, Nash, Clark). SCS Unit Hydrograph. GIUH. HEC-HMS software.

10. SHORT INTRODUCTION TO OTHER HYDROLOGICAL NATURAL HAZARDS

Drought, aridity and desertification. Landslides and their hydrological modeling, landslide early warning thresholds. 

11. IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE AND RELATED HAZARDS

Climate change projections with climate models (GCM-RCM). Hydrological modeling of future climate. Examples of impacts on extreme hydrological hazards. 

1. DINGMAN, S.L. Physical hydrology, Prentice-Hall, 2002.

2. MAIDMENT, D. (ed.), Handbook of hydrology, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1993.

3. BRAS R., Hydrology: an introduction to hydrologic science, Addison-Wesley Publ. Company, Reading Ma, 1990.

4. FERRO, V. La sistemazione dei bacini idrografici, McGraw-Hill Education, 2013. [In Italian]

5. Peres, D., J., Longo, G., Palazzolo, N., Barbagallo, S., Cancelliere, A. (a cura di), Impatto dei cambiamenti climatici sulla disponibilità e la domanda idrica, Quaderni CSEI Catania, III serie, Vol. 26, Catania, Febbraio 2023.  SBNPal0359431 [In Italian]

6. MOISELLO U., Idrologia tecnica, La Goliardica Pavese, Pavia, 1997. [In Italian]

Handouts and other material will be distributed in class and made available through Teams and website.

The exams are oral and either English or Italian language can be used. Non mandatory intermediate tests will be assigned. In order to take the exam, students must complete the guided applications.

Natural and anthropized hydrological cycle

Statistical analysis of hydrological data

Fitting probability distributions and statical testing (graphical and analytical)

Precipitation severity duration frequency curves

Characterization of watersheds through GIS

Precipitation measurements

Streamflow measurements

Flood hydrograph

Drought analysis

Climate change scenarios

Hydrological modeling of climate change