| Unit name | Hydrosphere 3 |
|---|---|
| Unit code | GEOG35220 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Bates |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
All units in year 2 for Syllabus B |
| Co-requisites |
All units in year 3 for Syllabus B |
| School/department | School of Geographical Sciences |
| Faculty | Faculty of Science |
This unit consists of 2 separate but complementary elements relating to hydrological Sciences. These are:
Element 1 :
Hydrology and Land Surface Processes (Dr Sara Liguori and Prof Jim Freer) The first part of the course (7 lectures) aims to provide an introduction to the principles of hydro-meteorological forecasting and to analyse the state-of-the-art of the techniques in use in this field and their potential application. We will discuss the rationale for the use of meteorological forecasts in hydrology, with particular emphasis on the use of quantitative forecasts of precipitation. The course will provide information on numerical weather prediction models as well as on forecasting models based on the use of weather radar data. We will analyse the hydrological scales of application of these models through practical examples. We will look at the development of different methods of dealing with the uncertainty in hydro-meteorological forecasting by means of quantitative probabilistic forecasts, and we will discuss the challenges of assessing meteorological and hydrological probabilistic forecasts. The final 3 lectures of this element (by Jim Freer) explore various aspects of the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD) such as the implementation strategy, assessment procedures and some water quality model prediction approaches needed for what is the most important environmental legislation ever enacted by the EU.
Element 2 :
Global Hydrology and Climate Change (Diego Miralles) This element deals with the global hydrological processes in the Earth and more in particular with the expected impact of global change in the dynamics of the hydrosphere. We will look at the potential of satellite observations and numerical models to give an insight in the global magnitude and variability of hydrological fluxes and states. The role of Global Circulation Models in the prediction of future hydrological scenarios will be examined. As a whole the course aims to provide an overview of the hydrological impacts of climate change by introducing state-of-the-art global modelling.
On completion of this Unit students should be able to:
The following transferable skills are developed in this Unit:
Lectures, seminars, computing practical and a poster symposium.
Element 1:
(SL and JF) 1 x Group research poster (10% of unit mark) with a 1 x 1000 word individual executive summary (15% of unit mark) linked to the poster (contribution to the overall unit mark of 25%). An unseen examination is 50% of the unit. The group poster is done in the form of a powerpoint poster and printed out by the University Print Services in the same style as research conference posters. This teaches the students about succinct and visual presentation of the most important information and about collaborative team work. This is an invaluable transferable skill and forces the student’s understanding of a particular topic to be distilled to the most important components. Also, this will be the first time students have the opportunity to produce research posters in the same way that is done by researchers for conferences. The individual essay will be tightly linked to the poster and is needed in order to distinguish individual performance and not produce a mark that is solely dependent on group work. There is a small cost associated with printing the posters (this year there were 9 posters coming to a total of £90). However, we would like to request that these costs are covered by the School because this is proving to be a challenging and interesting activity for the students.
Element 2:
(DM) 1 x 2 hour computer practical using Matlab software. The students will receive an introductory class about a remote sensing-based methodology to estimate global hydrological variables. They will be able to run a simplified version of the methodology and familiarize with the use of Matlab. A 2 pages summary report (including the interpretation of the results and the answer to a set of questions) will count for 25% of the final grade.
Reading is mainly based on journal articles and specific reading lists will be given with each lecture.
