Aim
The objective of the course is to provide fundamental understanding of the physical processes that determine the water flows and pathways in nature. The physics of the water movements are described and the relations between state and flows are quantified using mathematical expressions. The course is also to give an understanding of extreme events and the role of man on hydrology.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

• Understand and quantify the relation between state and flow with relation to snowmelt, evaporation, infiltration and groundwater flow.

• Understand and describe the water movements I a hill slope and the relation between high flows and the degree of water saturation in the soil.

• Understand the relation between groundwater and surface water.

• Be able to analyze extreme events.

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

• Formulate equations of snowmelt and compute the melt intensity.

• Formulate equations for potential evaporation and compute real evaporation from vegetation and soil conditions.

• Compute soil water movement from given moisture conditions.

• Compute time of concentration for different basins and different flow situations.

• Compute water balance for different types of lakes and reservoirs.

• Compute probabilities of extreme events.

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

• Be able to present the basis for analyses and calculations, including simplifications and assumptions made, when formulating mathematical models; be aware of the uncertainties in the computations.

• In quantitative terms be able to communicate the results of analyses performed to a qualified group of stakeholders.

Contents
Climate of the world, NAO, ENSO, precipitation process, different rain processes. Cold climate hydrology, snow and ice properties, snow distribution, snowmelt. Evapotranspiration, potential and actual evaporation and transpiration, different equations, relation evaporation and soil and vegetation conditions. Infiltration and percolation, pF-curves, soil water movement, irrigation. Hillslope hydrology, saturated and Hortonian overland flow, kinematic approach, particle movement, time-area method, reservoir theory, HBV-model, Beven’s model, time of concentration, ditch drainage, origin of stream water. Stream flow and lakes, water balance overflowing and terminal lakes, routing, regulation, flood control, mitigation of flooding, wetland hydrology. Extreme events, different extreme value distributions, partial series, the extreme of the extremes.

Literature
Brutsaert, W Hydrology, an introdution. Cambridge University Press 2005. 13 978-0-521-82479-8
Various papers and handouts on specific topics.