About This Course

The aim of this graduate-level course is for you to acquire an understanding and appreciation of hydrology as a quantitative science describing the occurrence, distribution, and movement of water at and near the surface of the earth. We will develop an intuitive and quantitative understanding of physical processes involved in the land phase of the hydrologic cycle, learn how to use this knowledge to address engineering problems and participate in research involving the physical understanding and parameterization of hydrologic processes.

Hydrology deals with the occurrence, circulation and distribution of water on earth and investigates the spatio-temporal storages and fluxes of water (in all its forms) in the terrestrial, oceanic, and atmospheric components of the global water system. Hydrology originated as an engineering discipline mainly focused on problems such as estimating extremes for hydrologic design applications. In time, the role of hydrology has expanded to account for rapid increases in data and technology. Today, the societal need for water, human security, and ecosystem functioning in a rapidly changing world requires quantitative hydrologic understanding to generate the necessary predictive capability across space and time scales to solve our pressing water resources challenges.