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Lecture 2 Theory

The document outlines the global water cycle, detailing processes such as precipitation, evaporation, runoff, infiltration, interception, depression storage, and detention storage. It provides a comprehensive overview of water distribution and storage, emphasizing the vast volume of water on Earth and the hydrologic equation governing water flow. Additionally, it discusses the components of inflow and outflow within a catchment area, establishing a water budget framework.

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17 views20 pages

Lecture 2 Theory

The document outlines the global water cycle, detailing processes such as precipitation, evaporation, runoff, infiltration, interception, depression storage, and detention storage. It provides a comprehensive overview of water distribution and storage, emphasizing the vast volume of water on Earth and the hydrologic equation governing water flow. Additionally, it discusses the components of inflow and outflow within a catchment area, establishing a water budget framework.

Uploaded by

syedabdullahzahid1
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture-03 2
 A continuous process by which water is
transported from the oceans to the atmosphere
to the land and back to the sea.
 The driving force for the global water transport
system is provided by Sun.
 Water quality also changes during the cycle.
 Movement of water is not steady rather quite
erratic.
Precipitation
under proper
Evaporation conditions

Transport Distribution
through air of rain water
masses in several
ways
1. Precipitation
Fall of moisture from the
atmosphere to earth surface.
• Precipitation may be:
a. Liquid precipitation
b. Frozen precipitation
2. Evaporation and Transpiration
a. Surface Evaporation
b. Water Surface Evaporation
c. Plants/Leaves Evaporation (Transpiration)
d. Atmospheric Evaporation
3. Runoff:
Portion of precipitation that is not
evaporated is known as runoff, which
ultimately runs to ocean through surface or
sub-surface streams.
Runoff may be classified as:
• Surface runoff or Overland flow
• Subsurface runoff or Interflow
• Groundwater or Base flow
4. Infiltration:
Precipitation falling on the ground,
is to some extent, absorbed by the land. This
absorption of precipitation water by land from
the surface of earth is called infiltration.
5. Interception:
A part of the precipitation is
obstructed by vegetation and temporarily
remains there. This process is called
interception. Later the intercepted water is
either evaporated or infiltrated.
6. Depression Storage:
A part of precipitation is
stored in depressions on the catchment area. This
is called depression storage.
7. Detention Storage:
When the precipitation occurs
for a longer duration and at a rate greater than the
rate of infiltration some water is collected on the
surface of the earth up to a certain depth. On
attaining a certain depth, the action of gravity
makes this water flow. Before it starts flowing, the
water stored on the surface of earth is called
detention storage.
Total Water = 1.38 billion Km3
 The volume of water at the surface of the Earth is
enormous: 1.37x109 km3! (total reservoir) – The
Oceans cover 71% of the Earth’s surface (29% for
the continent masses above sea level)

Reservoir Volume (km3) % Total


Biosphere 0.6 103 0.00004
Rivers 1.7 103 0.0001
Atmosphere 13 103 0.001
Lakes 125 103 0.01
Groundwater 9500 103 0.68
Glacial and other land ice (?) 29000 103 2.05
Oceanic water and sea ice 1,370,000 103 97.25
Total 1,408,640 103 100

Adapted from Berner & Berner (The Global Water Cycle; Prentice Hall, 1987)
• If we fix the time and take the volume units,
then the hydrologic equation can be written
as:
Total volume inflow – Total volume outflow = Total change in volume of the system

This is hydrologic or storage equation


• I – O = ΔS (law of conservation of matter)
I = Inflow
O = Outflow
ΔS = Change in storage
• In its differential form it states that rate of
volume inflow minus the rate of volume outflow
is equal to the rate of change of storage.
Mathematically
• I – O = ΔS / Δt
• where
I = Rate of volume inflow (volume/time) (m3 /sec
or ft3 /sec)
O = Rate of volume outflow (volume/time)
ΔS / Δt = Rate of change of storage (volume/time)
 Assuming inflow changes linearly from ‘I1 ’ to
‘I2 ’ in time ‘Δt’, the outflow changes linearly
from ‘O1 ’ to ‘O2 ’ and storage changes from
‘S1 ’ to ‘S2 ’ in this time.
The equation can be written as:
 (I1 + I2 ) / 2 – (O1 + O2 ) / 2 = (S2 - S1 ) / Δt
 inflow - outflow = ∆ storage
Components of Inflow
1. There are two components of inflow:
Precipitation over the catchment and reservoir;
and
2. Surface or groundwater flow from other
catchment areas
Components of Outflow
Three components of outflow are:
1. Surface evaporation & transpiration;
2. Groundwater seepage; and
3. Direct runoff Hydrologic Eq
 Water Budget in a Catchment
 I – O = ΔS
 P – (Li + R + Le ) = D + F or
 R = P – (Li + Le + D + F)
 R = P – The Losses
 R=P–L
 Here:
 R = Runoff
 P = Precipitation
 Li = Interception Losses
 Le = Evaporation Losses
 L = Total Losses
 D = Change in storage due to depression storage Depression
Storage
 F = Change in storage due to infiltration
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