📖Program Curriculum
Course modules
Compulsory modules
All the modules in the following list need to be taken as part of this course.
Surface and Groundwater Hydrology: Processes, Measurement and Modelling
Module Leader
Professor Ian Holman
Aim
This module concentrates on the conceptualisation, quantification and modelling of surface and groundwater hydrological processes. You will gain an understanding of rainfall, evapotranspiration, runoff, discharge, groundwater recharge, groundwater storage, and groundwater movement, all essential for those involved in the science, engineering or management of the water environment. The module further addresses how this understanding can be embedded within a range of different types of numerical models to address environmental and management challenges. The module offers you the opportunity to strengthen your analytical abilities with a specific mathematical emphasis, including model development and data analysis, which are key skills to launch future careers in science, engineering and technology.
This module is 20 credits.
Syllabus
Land-atmosphere interactions: measurement of precipitation amount and intensity, spatial analysis. Interception and depression storage. Evapotranspiration, actual evapotranspiration and soil water availability. Runoff processes; water balances.
Hydraulics: properties of fluids, basic mechanics. Hydrostatics: Pressure, pressure measurement, pressure and forces on submerged surfaces. Fluids in motion: Types of flow. Continuity, energy and momentum equations and their applications. Behaviour of a real fluid.
Discharge measurement; velocity area methods. Structures; hydraulic principles of weirs & flumes. Stage measurement. Rating curves and other methods.
Groundwater: Aquifer properties; recharge, groundwater movement, groundwater flow; conduct and analysis of pumping tests including limitations and assumptions.
Overview of the types of models applied; mechanistic, semi-empirical and empirical models. Why these different forms exist, their strengths and weaknesses. How they are applied?
Model parameterization, sensitivity testing, calibration/validation, model uncertainty, model performance evaluation, predictions and scenarios.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module you should be able to:
Explain the processes governing the surface and sub-surface movement of water within a catchment.
Select and apply appropriate measurement techniques and evaluate their measurement uncertainty.
Analyse and interpret a range of hydro-meteorological data.
Identify and evaluate the standard types of numerical models in use in hydrological sciences.
Apply a process of hydrological model design, building, calibration and validation to a catchment to meet stated objectives, and critically evaluate the usefulness and uncertainty of the model.
Good Ecological Status
Module Leader
Dr Pablo Campo Moreno
Aim
Water bodies are fundamental features of the landscape. Whether they are rivers, canals, wetlands, ponds, lakes, estuaries or the open coast, they are important habitats that support diverse ecological communities and provide essential services to society. Therefore, countries have developed regulations to protect the quality of these water bodies and methods to assess status. Around the world, quality is increasingly being assessed based on a wide set of physical, chemical and biological attributes of the water body. In the UK, quality is assessed based on its ecological and chemical quality under the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which became part of UK law in 2003. This module will provide you with an overview of WFD and other relevant water quality regulation and policy that govern the management and assessment of surface waters. It will also provide you with a background in ecological processes, aquatic communities, and survey design and data analysis to help those working in environmental water management to interpret water quality data in the context of the catchment characteristics and pressures.
This module is 20 credits.
Syllabus
Importance of water quality for human health, drinking water and the environment.
Water quality regulation and standards.
UK methods to assess the status of surface water bodies.
The physical and chemical attributes and processes structuring the biological community in aquatic ecosystems in the landscape (e.g. rivers, lakes, floodplains, estuaries and coastal zones).
Design of water quality monitoring programmes: sampling strategies, sampling methods, quality assurance, and data handling.
Water quality sampling & analysis: field sampling techniques and laboratory analysis methods.
Statistical analysis of ecological and water quality data.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module you should be able to:
Explain the chemical, biological and hydromorphological processes and their interactions that determine the ecological status of a surface water body.
Evaluate water quality and ecological data based on knowledge of the sampling and data analysis methods, and analyse them to identify significant spatial and temporal differences.
Interpret ecological and water quality data based on scientific understanding of aquatic organism occurrence, movement and distribution and natural and anthropogenic influences from the river network and catchment.
Managing Flood and Drought Risks
Module Leader
Professor Jerry Knox
Aim
Extreme weather events are considered top global risks. Every, many places around the world are affected by droughts and floods leading to severe impacts on people, the environment, agricultural and industrial production, and water supply infrastructure. Climate change will increase the frequency and severity of these natural hazards. Thus, we need to improve our ability to characterise and understand their occurrence, duration and intensity; and to effectively implement management responses to reduce vulnerability and minimise their impacts. This module will focus on droughts and floods, covering their definition, forecasting, impacts and management options. The module focuses on impact and management responses in three key sectors – domestic, businesses (including agriculture) and the environment.
This module is 20 credits.
Syllabus
Introduction. Definition of risk. Roles and responsibilities in drought/flood management.
Drought metrics (Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI), SPEI, Drought Palmer Severity Index (DPSI), Potential Soil Moisture Deficit (PSMD) and their spatio-temporal relevance to different sectors.
Flood probability. Storm hydrographs and unit hydrographs. Probability and return period analysis of hydrological events. Design floods. Estimation of peak flows using Flood Estimation Handbook (FEH) methods.
Impacts of droughts on different sectors and the environment.
Soft and hard engineering strategies to mitigate drought/flood risk at local (individual business) and catchment scales.
Management approaches to tackle drought/flood risk at different levels.
Cost-benefit analysis for assessing different management options to tackle weather extremes.
Climate change and water-related weather extremes.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module you should be able to:
Define drought and flood risk, their main characteristics and impacts, and policy landscape.
Calculate and apply different drought indicators (metrics) including assessing their utility and limitations.
Determine the likelihood of a flow of a given magnitude for gauged and ungauged catchments and catchments using the Flood Estimation Handbook (FEH and ReFH) methods.
Critically evaluate the role of alternative approaches to managing drought/flood risks.
Explain the impacts of climate change on the frequency and severity of drought/flood risks.
Water in Cities and Catchments
