You are a city planner tasked with evaluating the resiliency of the city's flood control infrastructure. Previous high-flow events caused flooding from exceeding the capacity of drainage culverts on Hinkson Creek. Of concern is whether changes in future climate (e.g. changes in precipitation intensity) will lead to increased frequency of flooding events. You will: (1) evaluate historical climate data to assess changes in climate indices, (2) calibrate a simple watershed model of Hinkson Creek based on USGS gage data, and (3) use the calibrated model to evaluate changes in frequency of flood events.
This module provides an introduction to climate change indices and key processes for water balance modeling used for watershed runoff modeling. Learning objectives are centered around an authentic task based on calibrating and simulating the watershed model to evaluate changes in flood frequency.
Climate Change Indices
Assessing Trends in Data
Water Balance Modeling
Components of the Water Balance
Running a Water Balance Model and Comparing to Observations
It is helpful if students have a basic understanding of the hydrologic cycle and rainfall/runoff processes. If needed, a thorogh treatment can be found in the HydroLearn module Physical Hydrology by Lane, Garousi-Nejad, Gallagher, Tarboton, and Habib (2021).
Basic Excel skills (make graphs, manipulate spreadsheet inputs) is also required.
At the end of this module, students will be able to:
Evaluate changes in precipitation on an annual basis using the World Climate Research Program considering changes in total rainfall, rainfall intensity (SDII) and number of wet and dry days.
Apply a simple water balance and use it to explain the essential components of the water budget.
Update the water balance model based on projections of climate change and urbanization to evaluate the impacts on the fluxes of the water budget components.
This will be accomplished through activities within each section.
This can be implemented as a standalone unit, but references to additional resources as well as links to other HydroLearn modules are provided throughout. Addtional details on relevant topics can be provided by the instructor as needed.
Noel Aloysius is an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering. His research interests include: Hydroclimatology with emphasis on modeling at watershed to regional scale; water and food security assessment; coupled human-natural systems; environmental change; land and water management in agriculture and remote-sensing for natural resource management.
Email Address: aloysiusn@missouri.edu
Steffen Mehl is a professor of Civil Engineering at Chico State where he routinely teaches courses in Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics. His research is primarily focused on using and enhancing groundwater modeling tools to support sustainable management of groundwater.
Email Address: smehl@csuchico.eduUpper Division undergraduate or graduate students in hydrology, engineering, or related disciplines
Microsoft Excel 365 or Excel 2021
7 hours
This course is available for export by clicking the "Export Link" at the top right of this page. You will need a HydroLearn instructor studio account to do this. You will first need to sign up for a hydrolearn.org account, then you should register as an instructor by clicking 'studio.hydrolearn' and requesting course creation permissions.
Aloysius, N., and Mehl, S. (2025) Assessing Hydrologic Change. CIROH. https://edx.hydrolearn.org/courses/course-v1:MU_and_CSU-Chico+BIOL_EN4450_and_CIVL_561+SP2025/about
Content in this module related to Evapotranspiration is derived from the HydroLearn module on Evapotranspiration by Archibald, Gutierrez, and Xu (2020). Content in this module related to infiltration is derived from the HydroLearn module on Physical Hydrology by Lane, Garousi-Nejad, Gallagher, Tarboton, and Habib (2021)