Chapter 1

Hydrologic Principles

Upper Y"..,.,ilfl fol. YOM"';" Nclionol POtI<.

(f'hoIo coOOe'y NeIi"",,1 P",k Setv.c., U S
DepI. InIerior.1

Hyd rology is a nlU llidiscipli nary subject that deals with the occurrence. ci rculation. storage. and diSTribu tion of surface lind ground water on the can h.
The domain of hydrology incl udes th e physical. chemical. and biological
reactio ns of water in nat ural lind man-madc Cllvi ronments. Because of th e
complex nature of the hydrologic cycle and its relation to wcat lle r inputs lind
dimal ic palterns. ~oi ll ypeS.l()pogrllphy. geomorphology, and Olher rchl teo

fac tors, the bou nda ry between hydrology and other carlh sciences (Le.,
meteorology. geology_ occanogr:lphy. and ecology) is nOI distinct.
The

~ tl.ld y

of hydrology also includes topics from tr .. dilional fluid

mechanics. hydrooynam il"S. :md wate r resources enginee ring (Maid mcn t.
1993; Mays. 2001). In addit ion. many modern hydro logic problems inclLldc
considerations o r water qLl:lli ty and contam inan t transpon. Wa ter quality
topics. though important. are not included in this text d Llc to space limi ta.
,ions; th ey havc been covcred in a numher of modern sources on surface
water qua lity ( Huber. 1993; Cha pra. 1997; Martin and McCu tcheon. 1(99)
lind ground water hydrology and contn mination (Bedient ct aL 1999: Feuer.
1999: Chnrbenenu. 2000).

1.1
IN11!00UCT10N
TO HYDROLOGY

Chapte r 1

The hydrologic cJ dc is a contin uous process in wh ich WaleT is eva porated fro m water surfaces and the oceans. moves inland as moist air masses,
and produces precipitation if the correct ve rtical lifting conditions exist. The
precipita tion that falls from clo uds onlo the la nd su rface o f the earth is dis
persed to the hydrologic cycle , -in several pathways (Fig. I-I ). A portio n of
the precipitation P, or rainfalL is retained o n th e soil ncar where it falls and
relUrns 10 the at mos phe re via el'aporation E, th e conversion o f wale r to
waler va po r from II wllte r surface, and transpiration T, the loss of wale r
vapo r through plan l lissuc and leaves. T hc combined loss, calkd cHIputnmSo
pirution T, is II maximum value if the wa te r supply in tbe soil is adequate
at all limes. T hese parameters are furthe r discussed in subsequent sec tions
of this chapte r and Section 2.6.
Some wate r e nte rs the soil system as Infilt ration F. which is a function
of soil moisture conditions an d soil type, and may reenter channels later as
in tertlow or may pe rcolate to rec harge the shallow grou nd wa te r. Ground
water G flows in flQ rous med ia in the 5ub!iurfacc in eithe r shaUow o r deeper
aqu ife r systems that can be pum ped for Wil ier supply to agricult ural and
munici pal wale r s}"5tems (see Chapler 8).
T he remain ing portion of precipita tion becomes overland flow o r
direct runoff R, whi!;h fl ows ge nerally in a down-gradi e nt dire!;lion to lUX U m ula le ill loclll streams tha t then fl ow to rivers. Hydrologic an alysis to determin e ru nnff re sponse from a wa ters hed area is co vered in Cha pte r 2.
E vapora tion and infiltrat io n are bot h complex losses from in pu t nlinfall and
are difficult 10 measure or comp ut e from theo retical method . covered in
detail in Sectio ns 2.6, 2.7, and 2.8.

I
I' _ ",...

"".tloa

-"

11 _ """"1(_0)
T_

,, ~"'I' .,.,_

Figure 1- 10

The hydrologiC cyde dischorges wdoce woler and groo.ondwoler !.om the higher
el""otion 10 the lower elevation.

Hydrologic Pri nciples

Almosphere)

lm~cre 3

Inl crcc p1l0 n

vaporali

~Dcprc"ion

Precipila1 ion
a iniSnowlSt ce lIH" i~

(
tnl~rceplion

Waler on surface

SlOr~!e

t n ti hr~1io n

I
L..f.vapol ,anspi" l io

ROOllOl1e

s1 ora~c

Ground .... atet

s l ora~e

Almo!!'.hcrc~

vaporalio,

rland

"~

Inlerflow

Channel
no ....
Ch" "n ct

'""c

"~~

1RC"''';~ir
Slorac

Ground
,,'ale,
flo ....
~

\0.:"":/
Figure I-lb
Flow chort of the

componen~

01 the hydrologic cycle.

Surface and grou nd waters now from higher elevations towa rd lower
elevations and may event ually d ischa rge into the ocean. esp(."<: ial ly ~ftc r large
rain f1t 1l events (Fig. I - I a). However. large qUllntities of surface wate r and
portions of ground wHter return to the 1tlmosphere by evaporation or ET.
thus completing the natural hydro logic cycle (Fig. 1-1 b). Precipitation frum
the atmosp here is H major force thaI drives the hydrolog ic cycle. and understanding major weather pHrameters and syste ms is importa nt for the prediction of preci piWlioll events (see Section 1.3).
Ancient History

Biswas (1972 ). in a concise treatme nt of the history of hydrology, describes

tht:\ early water ma nagement practices of the SUlllerians mid Egyptians in the
Middlt:\ EastHlld the Chinese alo ng the banks of the Huang He (Yellow
River). Areheological t."vidence exists for hydraulic SlTuct ures Ihat werc built
for irrigation and other water control act ivi ties. A da m \Vas bu ilt aaoss the
Ni le about 4000 II.C . and lHler n cana l for fres h Wilier WHS constr ucted
belwee n Cai ro and Suez.
The Greek philosophers were the firs t "erjolls st udents of hydro logy.
with Aristo tle pro posing the conversion of moist air inlo water deep inside
mou ntai ns as the source of springs and Strea nlS. Ho mer sugges ted the idea

Chopler 1

f igure 1-2
Roman aqueducts, I:nown as Pond du Gcrd loca ted in Southetn France, crou...

/he River Gordon (Gcrd) .

of an un derground sea as the source of all surfa<.'C waters. The ROlnans constructed numerous aqueducts to serve large cities as well as small towns and
ind ustrial sites. The Ro mans had the largest ooIJection with water beings upplied by I] aqu ed ucts constructed ollcr a pe riod of nhout 500 years. Figure
1- 2 shows one of the famous aqueducts built in France during that c<tTly
period. T hey served potable wate r and supplied the nume rous baths and
fo unlail1s ill the cily, as we ll as fina lly hei ng empt ied inlO the sewers. where
th e once-use d gray water pt: rformcd their last function in removing wastes.
The construc tion of the Roman aqueduc ts is cons idered one of the most
import an t enginee ring feats in history.
Streamflow measurement techniqu es were first Iln empted in the water
SY'ltem5 of Rome (A. D. 97) based o n the CrQl;s-scctiona l area of flow. It
remaint'd for Leouardo da Vinci to disc(wer the proper relationshi p between
area, velocity. and flow ra te duriug thc Italian Renaissa nce. The first
recorded measureme nt of rai nfa ll aud surface flow was made in the seventeenth ccntllry by I' errault. He compared measured rainfall 10 the estimated
flow of the Sei ne Rive r 10 show Ihe IWO were related. Perraul t's fi ndings
were pu blished in 1694. Halley, the Eng lish as tronomer ( 1656-1742), used a
small pan 10 es tim nle eva poration from the Med ite rranea n Sea and con
cl uded that it was enough to account for tribu tary flo ....')! . Mariolle gaged the
velocity of flow in the Seine Rive r in Paris. '!llesc ea rly beginnings of the
science of hyd rology provi ded the foundation for numerous advances in the
eighteenth ~ ntury, including Bernoulli's theorem. the Pitot lube for mellsuring veloci ty, and the Chezy ( 1769) formu la. wh ich form the basis for modern
hydraulics and fl uid measuremen t.
During the nin eteenth century. significan l advances in grou nd wa te r
hydrology and hydraulics occu rred. Darcy's law for flow in porous mcdia
was a major advance. as well as th e Du puit-Thiem well fl ow formula
(Chapter 8). In addi tion. the Hagen- Poise uille ca pillary fl ow equa tion was
deve loped to describe flow in sma ll channels. T he Darcy-Weisbach eq uation for pipe flow was also developed duri ng this sa me pe riod in the lRStls.
In surface water hydrology. ma ny now fo rtl1l1 lns nnd measuring instr um ents

HydrologiC: Principjes

were de\'elopcd that a llowed for the beginning of sys tematic stream gaging,
In 1867, discharge measurements were organized on the Rhine River at
Basel and quick ly el"pa nded throughout Europe_
The U.S. Geological Survey SCt up the first systematic program of flow
measu rement in the United St ~tes on the Mississippi in 1888. During this
same period. the United States founded a number of hydrologic age ncies,
including the U.S. Army Co rps of Engineers (1802). the U.S, GeoJogic~ 1
Survey (USGS, 1879), the Weat her Bureau (1891). and Ihe Mississippi River
Cu mmission ( 1893). The Price current meter was in vented in 1885, and Manning's fo rmu la was introduced in 1889 (Manning. 1889). The Wefllher
Bureau is no\\' called the No tionn l Weat her Service (NWS) and is one of six
organ izations und",rne ath the National Occ:mie and Atmospherie Admin is
trat ion (NOAA). NOAA is the agency responsible for weather dnto colleclion and severestorm. river. lind hu rricane forecasting for the Un iH:d Stales,
and many of its websitcs arc listed throughout the textbook. The USGS 8<1ging network for rainfall. streamflow, and Wll ter quali ty is onc of the most
exte nsive in Ihe world,
Earty History 119301-1950,)

The period from 1930 to 1950. which Chow (1964) called the Pe riod of Ru tiona liz;ltion. produced a significa nt step forwa rd for thc field of hydrology, as
govern ment agendes begun to devclop their own programs of hyd rologic
research. Sherman'S unit h)'drograph (1932) (see Chap te r 2). Horton's infiltration theory (1933). and Theis's nonequi librium equation (1935) in well
hyd raul ics (Chapter 8) ad\'anced the state of hydrology in very significant
ways. Gumbel (1958) proposed the use of ex treme-value distributions for
frequency anal)'sis o f hydrologic da ta, thus forming Ihe basis for modcrn
statistical hydrology (Chapter 3). In this period. the U.S. Army Corps of
Engi neers (ACOE). the NWS wit hin NOAA. the U.S. Department of Agricultu re (USDA ), and the USGS made significant contributions in hydrologic
theory and the devclopmcnt of :. nmional network of gages for precipitat ion,
e\'ll porat ion. and slrenmflow mcas urements. The NWS is slill lnrgc ly re~pon
sihle fOf rainfall meaSUfemcll ts. reporling and forecasting of scvcrc storms,
and ot her re lated hyd rologic invcstigmions.
The U.S. ACOE and the USDA Soil Conservation Scrvitt (n(lw called
the Nat ural Resourc.:s Conse r\'Mion Service [NRCSJ) madc significant contributions \0 the field of hyd rology in relat ion to flood control. reservoir
development. irrigation. and soil conservat io n du ring this period. More
recently. the USGS has taken significant strides to set up a nalional network
of stream gages and rainfall gllges for both qUllntit y and quality datil. 'l1teir
WalCT supply publications lind special inves tigations have done muc h to
ad van ce the field of hydrology by prcse nting the analysis of complex hydrologic data 10 develop rcla\iOllships and explain hydrologic processes. The
NWS und USGS bolh suppor t numerous wcbsi les for the disscminlltion of
watcrshed informm ion and prcci pi wtion ~Ind streamflow data from thousands

Chopler 1

of gages around thecollntry. Many of these sites arc listed in Appendix E and
on the te;llbook website (http://hydroJogy.ricc,cdulbedient ).
The go,-em mell l age ncies in th e United States have long performed

vital research themselves, providing fund ing for private and uni versity
research in the hydro logic area, Man y of the wal er re rources stud ies and
large dam , reservoir. and nood control projects in lhe 193Qs a nd 19405 we re
II direc t resu lt of advll nces in the fie lds of fluid mechanics. hydrologic syste ms, stal isticlll hydrology. evaporatio n anaJ)'sis, flood routing. and o pe rations research. Many of the advances from thnl era conlin ue 10 this day as
the melhodl; to pred ict runoff. infiltra tio n. and eva pora tion have not changed
much in ove r 50 )'ears. Majo r conlribulio ll5 from Ho rton (1 933. 1940. 1941)
and from Pe nma n (1948) in unde m anding hydmlogic losses were related to
the water li nd irriga tio n needs of the agril;ul lural sector in the Unit ed States
follo"ing the devastation o f the dust bowl e ra of the 1930s.
Mltjor wate r reso urces projects built during the 1930s were a di rec t
result of majo r floods on the Mississi ppi Rive r and the econom ic depress ion
across the not ion. The buildi ng of the mas.o;i \'e Hoover Dam on the Co lo rado
Rh'er fo r flood and sediment cont ro l and wate r su ppl)' in the early 1930s
provided employment for ove r 40.000 a nd was the largcSI l'Onstru etion project ever conceived to that poin t (sec Chllpt e rs 12 lind 13).

Modem Hiltory
In the 1950s and 1960s, the tre mendo lls increase of urhlm i7..8.lion following
World War II in the United States and Europe led \0 better me thods for
pred icting JX'a k flows from noods. for ulldcrstnnding impacts from urban
e xpansion. lin d for addres.<;ing varia tions in ~tornge in water su pply rese rvoirs.
Major expansion of ci ties and wate r SySlenlS wi thin the United States during
the 1950s led to a need for beller unde rst a nding of Ooods a nd d roug hts.
especiall y in urba n areas. Water resou rce stud ies beca me an eve ryday occurrence in m any nlpidly developing a reas of the U ni ted Slat es, tied to the
expansion of population ce nte rs in the southern. southweste rn. ami weste rn
slat es. H ydrologic an alyses prese nted in dc ta il in Chap te rs 2 thro ugh 9 in the
text we re a major com ponent of ma ny of these stud ies.
!)uring th e 1970s and ea rl y 1980s. the eva luation and delinealion of
floodplai n bou ndaries became a major funct io n of hyd rologists. as req uired
by the Fede ra l E merge ncy Man agement Agency (FEMA) a nd local flood
co ntrol o r drainage d istricts. In orde r for communi ties to be eligible (or flood
insura ncc admi niste rcd by FEMA . they a re required \0 deli neate floodplain
bou nda ries using hyd rologic anaJ)'Sis and models. "100dplain a nalys is is covered in detail in C hap ters 5. 7.9. and 12. Th is funcl ion has ta!.:en o n a vital
rol e in ma ny urban areas, as damages from seve re floods a nd hurricanes
con tin ue to plague the United States, especially in coas lal and low lying
areas. T hc pe riod from 2(1).1 to 20 10 accoun ted for nu me rous hurricanes that
caused massive damages and dea ths in scveral a rcas, especially along the

Hydrologic Principles

coastli nes o rTexas. Louisia na. Miss issippi. Alabama. and Ao rida. The massive Mississi ppi flood of 1993 wreaked havoc within the ce ntral United
Slates. and was repea ted in 2011 wilh maj or devast at io n to states from Illinois SOUllilO Louisia na (Chapter 12).
In rece nt years. the tradit ionH I Hpproaches to flood control h:lVe been
reassessed. A stud y titled " Higher Ground" fro m the Nat ional Wil dl ife Federation ( 1998) found a number of co mmu nities wit h la rge numbers o f repetiti ve fl ood losses. suc h as New Orleans and Ho u~ t on. Since th e great
mid western flood of 1993. the re has bec n II significa nt shift in nat ional flood
policy away from usi ng only suucturul solu tions. such as IC\'ee and chan nel
construction. Flood dam age from Tropicnl Storm A llison in Houston in 2001
was a major wnke- up call for be tt cr protection and warn ing systems in cri lical urban art as, T hc massi vc devasta tion fro m HurriCMle K a t r i n ~ in New
Orleans in A ugust 2005 an d Hurricllne Ike in 2008 in H ou.~ton-Ga lveslO n
will provide lo ng- lasting inceo tive to improve ou r abili ty to warn for and
rCCO\'e r from such seve re sto rm s. Mode rn methods for struct ura l flood contro!. as well ns nonstruclUrnl app roaches. be ner mana~e m c nt of flood-prone
are as. and voluntary prope rty buyo uts. mllst be conside red 111 any overall
fl ood ma nage ment plan (Chapter 12). Chapter 13 expl ores several major
water re$O UrCeS projec ts across th e United Sta tes and A~i a in terms of e nginee ring sign ifi Cll nce as well as nssocillted enviro nmen tal and policy impacts
on th e na tion.
Computer M-oI'IQeS

The int rod uc tio n of the digi tal com puter in to hydrology d uring the 1%Os
an d 1970s allowed co mplex wa ter prohle m~ 10 be sim ulated as comp lete
systems for t he first time. Large compu tcr models ca n now be used to match
historica l cla w and help answer diffi cult hyd rologic quest ions (Singh and
Freve rt. 2006). The deve lopment of thcse tools ove r the past fe w decades
has hcJped d irec t th e collection of the hyd rologic data to calibrate. Of
~malch ." the models against obse rva tion. In the process. Ihe understandin g
of Ihe h)'drologie sys tem has been great ly advanced. H)'drologic computer
models developed in the 1970s ha\'e been applied to areas previously unstudied or only empiricall y defi ned. For eX:lmple. urban Siorm wn ter. floodpla in
and watershed hydrology. drainage design. reservoir des ign an d operation.
flood freq ue ncy Hnalysis. and large. rivc r basin mana ge ment huve nil beneriltd from Ihe lI pplicnti on of computer models.
H)'dro logic simulati on mode ls lI pplicd to waters hed nnalys is arc
descri bed in dewil in Chaptc r S. Single-cven t mode ls such as I IEC-HMS are
used 10 simulate or calculate th e resulti ng Slonn hyd rogT3ph (disc harge \ 'S.
time) from a well-defined watershed arell for a give n pallern of ra infa ll
irllenliily. Co ntinuous models suc h as lhe Hyd rologiCllI Simulat ion Program- Fortran (HSPF) nnd Ihe Storm Water Management Model (S WM M)
can accou nt for soil moisture storage. evapo transpirnt ion. an d an teceden t

10

Choplef 1

as the main input 10 the: hydrologic cycle. a nd the hydrologist needs II ge ne ral
understanding of the mechanisms that cause iL~ formation.
Horizon tal vari.lI ions in atmosph eric pressure cause air to mo\'e from
higher press ure toward lowe r pressure. resulting in the generation uf wind.
Vert ica l di spltlce ment causes air to move as wc ll, bu t 111 II far slower ra te than

horizontal winds. The ve rtica l moveme nt nn d lifting of ai r results in th e

forma ti on of cloud s. Clouds are fam iliar to all of us. and represe nt collections of small drop lets of waler or liny crystals of ice, The names of th e basic
clouds have Ihc foi1ow illg rools:
dlTllS. feathery or fibrous clouds
~trulU!,

layered clouds

cumul Wi . towe ring, puffy clouds

alto, middle-level clouds

nimbus. rain douds

The second aspect of clo ud classification is by he ight. Anthes ( 1997)

presc ntll a de\ailed cove rage of cloud types for the interested student. One
type of hi gh clo ud of importance in hydrology is th e cumulonimbus, one
often found in heavy I hu n d erstorm~ tha i produce ma s~ ive ra infall. Ci rr us
clouds lire very high collections of ice crys tals and ort en indicate the approach
of a cold fron t and that weather is abou t to change. Whi le clouds res ult when
air rises and cools, surface fog results from cooling nea r the surface or from
the addition of eno ugh water vapor to cause sa turation. Fog is essentially a
low cloud with a base that is very near Ihe ground, o fte n reducing the visibil
ity in the area within or around it. Ma rine fog is common along the Califor
nia an d uppe r Atl ant ic coasts in the United States.

The ge neral circulation of wind across the ea rth is cliused by th e uneven

hea ting of cluth's surface th rough sola r input, and by th e ea n h's rot Al io n.
Atl he eq ua tor, solar radiatiun input and lem pera ture are greatest because
of the shupe and till of the globe re lntil/e to th e sun. Three lat itudina l ci rcu
lation cells trallSporl heat from the equator to thc poles (Fig. 1-3). As warm
ai r tra\els northward in the middle latitudinal cell on a spinning eart h, it
tends to shift to the right (toward the east) in Ihe non hern hem isphere due
to the Coriolis force, thuscallSi ng the occurre nce of winds called ..esterlies.
These winds tend to drive th e direction of major weather systems from ..est
to east across major portions of th e continental Uni ted Statcs.
Between JOdegrees nort h latitude an d the equator, the flow is generally
toward the sout h and is altered to create the tmde winds (ClISterlit's) by the
Coriolis force in the northern hemisphere. The trade winds all owed explorers
from Eu rope to sail across the ocean w tht New World. The Coriolis force
causes tht flow along latitude circles (cast/wes t) 10 be 10 times greater th an

Hydrologic P,inciple,
Mean pooilion of pol. ,

II

J~I

Mean p<llIltlon~ of
JUb l'OPICll) jel.

Pol., fronl
M~3n

p""lion of po13' jel

figure 1-3
General circulorion of currenrs ood wind poller05 aero"

the IKIrth.

the flow along the meridians (nonhI5OUl h). Around the JOdcgrces north and
south latitudes, descending air crellh:S a region of minimal wi nds and li ttle
cJoudinc:;:s Ihal is known as the horse Intillldes. Nca r the cqualOr is an ol her
region of light And variable winds COI llcd Ihe doldrull1$. or the inlertrupica l
co nvergence 7.one. Thi ~ i~ the area of maxim ulI\ solar hea ting, whcre surface
air rises and flows toward both poles.
Jet streams, firsl observed in 1946. are narrow blonds of high.speed
winds that circle each hemisphere: like: gre31 rivers. at elevaliolls extending
from 2.5 or 3 miles to above the tropopa use. TIle polar and subtropical jets
arc associaled wit h the polar fron t ncar 45 degrees la titude and 30 degrees
latitude, respcclively. The jet slreams are highly variOlblc an d ca n flow OIt
speeds a.~ high as 100 mph fastcr than the air on either side of th em. Jet
streams have a major impact a~ the driving force for weather syMcms across
the United States. especially in the winter season.
Ail' MaSlolS and Fronts

Ai r mOls.~es arc large bodies of ai r with rairly consistenl temperalUre and

humidity gradients in the horilo nt al di rection at a givcn altitude. Ai r masses
dominllle ou r weat her li nd are classified in two ways: the source from which

Hydrologic PrineipleJ
Development of su rface cyclones along fronts occ urs whe n an uppe rle"'e l disturbance apprm,ches a front. The upper-level pattern s of eonvergem:e and diverge nce produce pressure changes at th e surfacc, whic h then
produce low-level circulation ("'at'c eydone). As a wa\'e cyclone de\elops.
low press ure forms at its apex and both the warm and cold curre nts move in
a cydonic pattern (coun terclockwise in the northern hemisphe re) aroulld il.
To the lefl of Ihe apc.~. the oold frOIll is ad\'ancing lowards the wann air. and
the wann front is receding to the right. The warm ai r be l ween the fronts is
known as tht warm sector. T he e ntire ~ySlC m gene rally moves toward Ihe
ri gh t (eastward), and ahead of the wa rm front the fi rs t sign of the approac hing syslcm is high cirrus clouds. As the center of low pressure app roaches.
the pressure fal ls and the wind increases and changes its direction to cou nle rcloc;kwise . The tempe rature begins to decrease as the frontal l one
approaches. Wi thin seve ral hund red miles of the surface pQl;ition of the
front. precipitati on begi ns, eit her rllin or snow. Fronts can be fast mov ing in
the winte r or can be slowed or stalled due co t he prese nce of o ther ai r masses
or high-pressure systems in the fall or spring ( An th es. 1997). Warm fronts
can also gene ra te rainfalls as they movo.: across an area.
Fronts are a major factor ill U.S. weather patterns, especially from
September through Ap ril in most yea rs. The type of wea ther ac-companyi ng
the pasSilge of the '--'(lId front depe nds on the front"s shnrpll css. its speed. and
the stabili ty of the air being forced aloft. Oft en th.:r.: are towerin g cu mu lus
clouds and showe rs along the forwa rd edge of the front. Sometimes, especially in the Midwcst du ring the spri ng. se~era l squall5. or a st rong Jille o f
stomlS, precede the front. Tornadoes can fOl"m in these storm cells, especially
in llrcas of north Texas, Oklah oma, and Arkansas. But in ot her cases. nimbostr atus clouds and rain extend over 11 w ne of 50 to 60 miles. After the
fron tal passage, the wind changes sharp ly and the pressure begins to risll.
Within a short dislance behind the cold front, the weather clears. the tem
perature begills 10 fa ll. and the visibility greatly im proves,
Thundenlomls
T hunderstorm activ ity is charactcriu d by cumulo ni mbus clo uds tha t ~an
prod uce heavy rainfall . thunder. lightnin g, Hnd occasionally hail. Thunderstorms are the result of strong vertk almovements in th e atmosphere and
usually occ ur in the spring or summer in the United States. They req uire
warm, moist air. which when lifted will release enough tnte nt hea t to proviue
the buoyancy needed to main tai n its upwl1rd motion. Accordingly, they genenilly occur in wa rm ai r masses Ihat have beoome unsta ble either thro ugh
extreme low-pressu re systems, surface heoting. or forced 3S(:ent ove r mountai ns. The geographic patt ern of thu nders torm occurrence in the United
States is a result of bot h an area's dista nce from source air masses and its
topograph y. Florida and the Gu lf Coast are affected most frequently, sometimes as often as 100 times in a year.

13

12

Chapter 1
Lhey were gene rated, land (continen tal) or ",ate r (maritime). 3nd the latitude
o f ge neraliOIl (polar o r tropicfl l). The four co mbi n ati o ns arc d csignnl c: d cPo

cT. ml',nnd mT.

Each of these types of air mas.<;es is present in the United Slates. The
contine ntal polar air mass emanates Crom Canada and passes ove r lhe north ern Uni ted SlaLes. o ften d ro pping s ignifican t a mounts o f rain and snow on
a reas downwind of the Grent Lakes. The mari time polar air mass also comes
southward from Ihe At lan tic ooaSI of Canada and affects lhe New England
stales. Another IIIllTitirne polar ai r mass oomt::s fro m lhc !'acific and hi lS the
extreme no n hweste rn stales. The maritime tropical air masses come from
the Pacific. the Gull of Mexico. and the Atlantic. The e nt ire southern United
SIllies is affected by Ihese air masses. The only time con tinental tropicalllir
mllSses form is during the summer, and they origi nate in Texas an d affect
the ~t atcs bordering to the north.
T he boundary betwee n one Hir mass an d another is calh:d a front al
zone, or front. When two air mllSses meet. the front will slope diago nally, liS
the colder. denser air mass pusbes under the warme r air mass. Betwee n the
two fronts. a transit ion zone occurs. usually 30 to 60 miles wide. Wh ether the
masses are traveling again$1 each other or in the sa me di rection. the warmer
air mass will be forced upwa rd and cooled by expansion. Since cooling a
pMcel of air lowers its sat uration vapor pressure. th is may ca use condensa
tion and the developme nt of preci pitation often associated with fronlal s)'lltern s (Fig. 1.-.4). The NWS website provides an amBli ng amount of wea the r
informa tion and satellite data all o n one place (hltp:Jlwww.nws. noaa.govl).

.............. Cold from

.-..-- Wann fronr

Figu... 1-4
Direction of the cold ond werm front:. in the easlern United States. The cold Ironts
come from ,he North Iowold the Guff and the worm fronts lto.tfrom the GulF 10
pu$h inlond .

"

ChcplM 1

Figure 1-5
The CumulonimbUI doud thol lignol5 thot (I Itorm i. opprooehing.

Thunderstonns de,"clop in three characteristic stages. The first is Ihe

cumu lus stage, when llIoist ai r rises and cools and condenses into a cumulus
cloud. The cumulus cloud then conlinues to grow taller as the rising air
conde nses at successively hi ghe r levels (Fig. 1-5). T he d i ~ m eter of lhi: ~Iorrn
cell grows in width (rom abou t l mile 106 to 9 miles lU1 d vertica lly to S or 6
miles. T he rising air is no longer able to retain water dro plets and rain
begins 10 fa ll.
The rain marks t he beginning o f the second stage o f the thunderStorm, the ma ture stage. D uri ng Ih e mnture stage. the large water pa rt icles
or hail in Ihe clouds begin to fall because they have become 100 large 10 be
~ u ppo rt e d by the upd raft. As thi s happens. dri~ r air arOUlid the cloud is
being drawn int o it. in II process known as enlrainment. This drying of the
air results in the eva poration of some rain drops. which cools the air. The
air is now colde r and heavier than the ai r around it and, while the uppe r
part of the cloud still has a stron g upd raft. a low..:r part of the storm cloud
begins to descend as II downd raft. This downdraft eventually re a ~hcs the
ground and sprclIds away fro m the thunde rstorm, causing the cool gusts of
wind that usually fo res hadow th e arrival of a th understorm. Meanwhile,
the upper part of the cloud reaches II stable part of the atmosphere, and
higha hitude winds may create II typi~a l anvil sha pe (Fig. 1-6). The cloud
rcac hes its greatest ve rt ical dcvelopmen t in this stage. ~xtending upward
o~e r 7.5 mi (40.000 ft. 12 km). Lightning. turbulence. helll'Y rains, and. if
preserl t. hai l are all found at thi s time. The second stage is the most in tense
period of the Ihurlderstorm.
When Ihe downdraft has spread over the en tire storm cell and the
updraft has been cut off, the storm begins its final stage. the dissipati ng stage.
The rate of preci pitation diminishes and so Ihe downdr.. rts are also g,rndually
subdued. T he final nashes of lightning fade away and the cloud begins to

Hydrologic Principles

"
~ Sronn mOhon

.<

Wak~

of cool air
25 km

FiglXtl 1-6
Typicol thunderstorm cloud evolution. The typical onvihhoped clouds lhot ore pre..,.,t
durirog 0 thuoOO-slorm ore couloed by !he movemenl 01 cold a ir and warm a ir. As Ihe
cold oir moves downward and the warm air moves upwmd. the warm oi, obove
spr80dl or.tl in Ofde. 10 cool. resu'~rog in the IoIlowirog .!hope. fiy much like an arw;1.

disso lve o r perhaps persist .. while longer in a sira tified form (sec Fig. 1-6).
Inte nse thunderstorms arc of grea t imereS!. since they can prod uce ~igll i fi
can t amou nts of rainfall in a shorl time period. Cha ph:r II discusses new
mdar met hods for the detect ion of severe storms and fo r the meas ure me nt
of ra infall in tensi ties associated witll seve re Slorm5.

Tropinl cydones or hurdanes arc in lense cyclonic storms that form o\cr
Ihe !Topical oceans. Oe lwcen 5 and 20 degrees latitude. With ext reme
amou nts of ra infall and winds tha i can exceed 186 mph (300 kmlhr). !TOpical cyclones nre the most destructive storms o n earl h_The local nome for
th is sto rm varies Ihrough(Jull he world : typhoon in Eastern Asia. cyclone
in Ind ia. an d baguio in the C ll inll Sea. Th.: Nor lh A merica n te rm , used in
this discussion. is hu rr ica ne. By inlematio nal agreement. a storm is a hurricane if it has wind specds of 81 least 74 mph (119 kmlhr) and a rotary
circulmioll. When its wi nd speeds are Oelwee n 39 mph (63 kmlhr ) lind 73
mp h (1 19 kmlhr). il is a tropical slo rm. Tropical disl urban ces wi lh winds
Ihat do nOI e.~ceed 39 mph (61 !.:mfllr) arc trop ical depressions. All tropical
slo rms and hurricanes a rc gi,en proper na mes in alph3bctical orde r. start ing !lI th e beginning of Ihe alphabet when Ihe storm $Cason begins on June
I and starting over du ring Ihe nexl season. I-Iurricancs arc class ified according to !l scale based on cent ral pressure. storm surge heighl. li nd ... ind
speed. The scale has five el1legories. ranging rrom calegory I. a hurrica ne
of min imal damage_ to clltcgory 5, II hurrica ne of ell lllSlrophic proportio ns
(sec Tablt' I-I).

15

'6

Chapter I
, .... 1- 1.

n.. Solfi,.s;",p$OI'I Hurrieone Wind Seale

W;'
,

39-73
""-95

....""-

96-110

Moderete

111 - 130

hten.ive

Tropical 51"""

blent 01

Minimol

Some Rooding
00""'9'" lm,1td to ........,.,.,..j mobiIt

homto.....H.ory. and_.

131-1.55
156+

ExII . ....

CoJo.t'~ic

Som. roo/. dOC< and window

domogtl to building . "'",. If,..

blown dewn
Some IInIdutOI damage 10 '8$idenc.
and \11;);1)' building . tr_
delolialec:l and """'Y blown down
&IeouiYe CVI'IOinwuI Ioilo... and _
complo .. ,oci Ioib........vb..
~ .... and e l .igns blown down
Comple .. roolloilurtl ond ",me
compielt buildi"'\lloilu,e.

The warm, moistu re-laden air of th e tropical ocea ns possesses an e normo us capaci ty for hea t e nergy, and most of th e ~n~rgy r~qu i rcd 10 creat e
and s ustain a hurrica ne comes from what is released thro ugh condensa liun
from va por to wa ter. Hurricanes de\'e!op most o rlen du rin g the laic summe r
whe n the ocea ns arc warm (26C or higher) and are thus able to provide the
necessary heal and mo ist ure 10 the air. The hurricane season in the West
Ind ies ex ten ds from Ju ne 1 to Novembe r 1. but 84% of the h urricanes and
tropical cyclones be low hurrica ne intc n~ity re por t~ d from 1887 to 1958 in
tbe North A tlnnt ic occurred during August, Septe m ber. an d O cto be r. There
is conside rable variability in the numbe r of hurricanes in the Atlantic nnnuaU y. In tbe 4O-year period from 1950 \I,J 1990, the number of hu rricanes in
the Atlantic varied fro m J to 12 per )'ear.
The decades of the 1990s and 2000s have see n especially bigh hurricane
activity in the Nort h A tla ntic basin, incl ud ing both h urrica ne frcqucncy and
inte nsity. As indicated be low, 2004 an d 2005 were very active h urricane
yea rs for the coastal Unit ed Sta les. Figure 1-7 shows the devastating track
of Hurricane Ike Ihat damaged the Ii ouston-G~l\'eston coas tline in Se plembe r, 2(X)8. Slatistic$ have 5hown Iha t Ihe nu mber of tro pical storms CQrrel:lt es
with seve ral cl imn tological anomalies o n a global scale, includ in g rainfa ll in
Wes t Africa in tht' prior year, Ihe direction of the winds in the stratosphe re,
a nd the 1 Nii\(rSolithern 0 5-Cillation (I::NSO) pheno me no n. eha meteri"l.eu
by a warm phase aSS()I;iated wit h high 5-C n surface te mperat urt:S off the eo~st
of Pe ru , low atmosp her ic pressure ove r the easte rn Pacific. high pressure in
Ihe western Pacific, a nd slrong ..inds alon over the !ro pieal A tla ntic (creatin g high \enical wi nd shear and un favorable co nd itions for hurricane develo pme nt). A cold phase ( La N iiill) has low sea s urf:u~e tCtllpcratures in the

17

Hydrolog ic Principle.

"

Hurricane Ike
Sept...oo.2'008
W<ndsjlMd (mph)
.~

$00

e ,.."",,,
at .."'-00""''
'
, -,. ota~
.... ""' ..

1'

."

,.." -,

'.....":~1~

,. ."'" 'I

-'.

L ___~~_~---"
Figure 1-7
Hurricone l~e 'l Irock. The hurricane 110rled in the Arlontic ond mode ih way into 1be Gulf. What,lolted
oul 01 0 Co~ 4 s/Qfm in 1t.e Montoc become 0 Colego,y J 01 it hit Cuba ond nooUy weakened to
o COlegory 2 oorm 01 it mode Iondfall in Te)(CIl.

eastern POltific and the opposite press ure li nd wind anomalies. Meteorology
textbooh lind websilcs usually provide more detai ls on the occurre nce and
characteristics of hurricanes (Anthes. 191)7: Ahrens. 2000: Dingman. 2(02).
More detnils can be found in Chapte r 12,
Moi$h.o,. R.Iolionships

Atmospheric moisture is a necessary source for precipitation and is generally

prO\'ided from evapora tion a nd trans piration. Preeipitllt io n neross the
United States is largely due to prollimity of el'a po ration from oceans lind the
Gulf of Mexico nnd 10 subsequentt r.msport ove r the continent by the at mo
spheric circulation system. Common me asures of atmospheric moist ure. or
humidity. include vapo r pressure. specific humidity. mill ing rat io, relative
hu midity. and dew poin t tempera ture. (Most of the~ terms were defined
earlier in th e Chapter.) Under moe;t condi tions. wnter vapor ca. n be assumed
to obey the ideal gas law, which allows dcr;I'ation of simple relltlions between
pressure. density. and temperat ure.

18

C"opter 1

The partitl l pressure is the pressure that wou ld be exerted on the sur
face of a con tai ner by a particular gas in a mix ture. The parlial pressure
exerted by wat er vapor is called vapor pressure and can be derh'ed from
Dalton's law and the ideal gas law as
e -

p",RT
0.622'

(1- 1)

where

va por pres sure (mb),

p .. = vapor densilY or abso lute humidity (g/cm 3),

R = dry air gas cons tan t .. 2.1)1 x lW mb cm3fgK.,

T = ab!;olu le te mperature e K).

The factor 0.622 ariso.::s from the ra li o orlhe molecular weight of wat e r (18)
to lhal of ai r (2Y). Ncar the ear1h.~ surface. the Wille r vapor pres~ure is 1%
10 2% of the tOlal atm05 phc ric press ure. wh ere average atmospheric pres-SUTe is 1013.2 mb (I mb = IV pascals (Pa)). SatUflItion vapor pressure is
the partial pressu re o f wate r vapor when the air is completely slIlUrated (no
further e"aporll tion occurs) and is a function of tempe rature.
Rdative humidi ty (RII) is ilppro)(imntely the n llio of wa ter vapor
pressure to that which would prevail under sat urate d condi tions at the sa me
lempcrdlUre. II ca n also be slated liS RH = 100 ele,. Thus, 50% relat ive
humidity means tha t the iltmosphere CQn tains 50% of the maximum moist ure
it could hold under saturated conditions at Ihal tempera tu re. Typical I'(: lati\'l:
hum idity averages (high and low percentages) for eight major America n ci ties
are as follows: Houston (89,67), Seatt le (84, 62), Chicago (SO, 64), New York
City (n. 56), Mia mi (83. 61), Denve r (67, 40), Albuqu erq ue (58,29), lind Las
Vegas (40. 21).
Specific humidity is the mass of water vapor contained in a uni t mass
of moist air (gig) and is equal to p",/ p.,.. where P.., is the vapor densily lind
P'" is the de nsity of moist air. Usi ng Dahon's law and assumi ng that the
alm05phcrc is eomposed of o nly air and walcr vapor, we have
( P - e)

Pm =

+ 0.6221:

RT

- RT (I - O.378e/P ) .

(1-2)

Eq uat ion (1- 2) shows Ihat moist air is actually lighter lhan dry air for the
same pressure and temperature. Thus.
(I",

q - p,,, - P

0.6221:

0.378e'

where

specifie humid ity (gig),

= vapor press ure (mb),

P = 10lal "Imospheric press ure (m b),
r .n = den sity o f mixtu re of dry Air And mO ist ni r (glc m3).
t';

( 1-3)

Hydrologic Principj&5

"

Finally. the dew point lemperature TrJ is the value at which an nir mass just
becomes sa turated (e ". e,) when cooled 3t constan t press ur!;" and moisture
co nt e nt. A n approximate relatio nshi p for sa luratio n va por press ure over
wate r t. as a function of tempe rature Tis
= 2.7489

f,

4278.6 )

( 1-4)

x loSexp ( - T + 242.79 .

where f . is in nib and T is in 'c. The relationship is accurate to ....~thi n 0.5%

of tnbulated ,:dues (List. 19(6) ovcr 11 range of tempe rat ures from oec to
40C. l'I omework problems for Chap ter I nn tl the followi ng Exa mple 1.1
explore the use of Eq. ( 1-4) in marc detail. More details on their applkation and usc can be found in sta ndard tex tbooks (Wall(lCC and Hohbs. ]977;
Ahrens. 2CII)J; Dingman. 2002).

A t the airpon. weather specialist measured the air pressure to be 124.3 kPu.
the air temperature was 28' C. and the dew point tempe rature was 20-C.
Calculate the corresponding vapor pressure, relative humidity, aud specific
humidity. First compute t and e,.

EXAMPlE 1-1

SOUl"""

Ai r pressure = 124.3 k Pa 1243 mb

Airtemp -2S'C

7".1 .. zooC
'U,n!; 100 I'a _\ mb

Vapor Pn-ssure
c

2.749

loS cx p (

Td -:2;:i~79). plug in 20'C for T to get 23.34 mb

e,- 2.7489 X 10' exp (

4278.6)
' Cf

T+242.79.plugin28
or T toget37.56m"

Ke!.tint Humidity
II = 100'." _ 100 23_'"'; J7.SIi .... 100'0.62

co

62%

Specific Humidity

q - :: = p

0.6~7&. pl ug in 23.]4 mb fore and 1243 mb for P 10 gct 0.0117 kg

wllIerlkg moist air

20

Chopler \
~iI:

Stability and Phose Changes

In orde r for vapor to co ndcllsc to water to begin the forma tion of precipitation. II q u:tnlity of Ilelll known as '<l tcn t heal must be removed from Ihe moist
air. The bleDt heal of condensation Lc is equal to the laten t helll of evapora-

tion Lt:. the amount of hea l requi red to convert waler to vapor al the same
tempe rat ure. With Tmeasured in "C,

Lt: "" - 4

597.3 - 0.57(T - <rC),

( 1-5)

where Lt: is in caVg. The la tent hell I of mclt ing lind free;dng arc also related:
Lm""' -L, - 79 .7,

where L", is also in calfg. Th us, it ta kes abou t 7.5 limes Ihe ene rgy to evaporate II gram of waler compared to melti ng a gram of ice.
A s moist, unsa turated air rises. the relative humid ity increases, and 111
somedcvlllion salu ration is reached and relative humidity becomes 100%. Furtherooolingofthit air results in condensation of the moi5ture at II defin ed lift ing
COndltllstl tion Icvltl (LCL). LllIcnt hca[of condensation is released, w<lmling thc
air a nd lowering the IItmospheric la pse I1Ite. or the rate of temperature change
wilh elevation. As d iscU55ed earlier. lalent heat exchange is the major CIlCrg)'
source Ihat fucls tropica\cyclones and hurricanes. II ha~ also been observed that
a relation does nOI nccessarily exisl between Ihe amount of wa ter vapor and the
resulting precipitation 0''Cr a region. Thus. condensation can occur in cloud
formations withou t the production of precipi tation at the ground surlaoe.
M e t eorol ogist~ usc th e moisture relationsh ips a nd th e latent-hcnt concepts to ohlllin pressure-temperature rcla tio nships for coo ling of Tising
moist air in the al mo:;phere. The ratlt of tempera ture c ha nge wil h ele"lltion
in th e atmosphere is called Ihe IIdillblllic WPllc r.lle. The dry adiabatic lapse
rate (DALR ) is 9.8"C per km an d assu mes 110 phase cha nges of wa ter. Th e
average ambiellt lapse rate is abou t 6.SC per km, but va ri es with moisture
conditio nJ. An un stable almos phe re is one in which the ambient lapse ra te
is grea te r tha n Ih e D A LR. A stable a tmosphere is o ne in which thc ilmb ic nt
lapse Ta le is less than the DALR, and an air pa rcel lends to cool faster 1ha n
the environmcnt as it rises ' "e rt ically. Figure 1-8 Sholl'l li he va ri ation of lapse
ratcs and di ffe ren t 1)'peS of atmosphe ric collditions. with an unstab le atmosphere bei ng very conducive to li fting of muist ai r and to format ion of severe
wea ther and/o r ra infall cond itions.
Mechgni 51t!1 01 Procipilotion FOl'mCltion

Precipi la tion is thc primary input to the hydrologic cycle, whether in the
form of rainfa ll, now, o r hail. and is generally dcri"cd from atmospheric
moistu re. In orde r fo r precipi ta ti on to occur at the c<l rth 's surface.
1.

2.

II moisture source must be a vailable,

moist air m ust undergo lifting and res ultan t cooling,

HydfOlogic Principle.
T.rnpe"' tu,~

of

U rn""'. I" r' '"

environ"",n, j' e)

"" C-- ---.,'.',"':':.m=':..""-.r---.---1

I~pse 'a!(
7"CItOOO m

'.

",

,
..

1(,'

,,
,,
,,
,

Dry

'''''

u."onmrnl ("C)

""r-:-- - --+---,
'I'
,

Moisl

\ , / :-;;:b<llil:

,.

".

M' ~ \\

" "
"

12'

,,
,

" 6' 0110,) m 16'

,,,,,

odia boouc "

1O"ClllO,)n.

21

I
Tcmpc. a(un: of hf.cd
.. J.... (ur. ' "d .ir (C)
(df)' ,ate)

II) '!lie u....'''r.'<:01 pared <:>f ." . , ucll .ie' ""'"

10 cnIder ' han ill . u,rouooJn!:l> 1he

""""'pM""
_llbI<: ""h '''''peet 10 u" <IlI U'Olcd, nsong .i,.

Icmpe .a. un: or lifled

" 'u raled "" (OCI
(""",,( , alC)

It'l The Iiflc,J.. " 'Urlted :ur J'Ulr<'I<l .......""". "' ,ado
."""""'" thIn ir. wrroundinp> 'I~ "mOSf!hc' , ..
"".. obi< "ilh ''''pee< 10 "",u ,uled . 0;' "8 .it.

Figure 1-8
Vo riation 0 1 1op$C role$ a nd d ifl.,..ent Iype$ of otmospheriC condittOl"l~ . lNhen o,r is colde r thon its $UI
roundi ngs a nd riJoes, it rewlts ,n whot is coi led a stable a tmosphere. On tile otller hondo when wortner
oir . i18S, it .e .ull! in on un.table atmosphere (9'801e r m~me nt of oi').

3. n phase change mus t occu r wi th r(sulc ing conde nsation onto small
nuclei in the ai r.
4, drople ts must grow large enough to ove rcome d rag and evaporation
to reach the ground.

Preci pi tation is often classified accordi ng to conditio ns that ge nerale

vertical ai r mOlioll. Figure 1- 9 shows th e three mai n mechanisms:
I.

~'ilHvccti ve.

10

due to intense hea ting of air alt he ground, which leads

expansion and vertk al rise of ai r;
Figure 1-9

"

"

"

The th ree diffe rent

preci pitalian IiIIing mechan isms
thot resull when
oi r 01 d ifferent
lemperotvre. mf)(!1
in d,fle<ent topogroptrie~.

"

Chcplcf

2.

r
cyclonic. associated with the movemen t of large air mass syste ms. as
in the case o f warm or cold fro nlS; and

3. orographic, duc to mechanical lifling of moist air masses over lhe

windward side of moun ta in ranges.

Orograp hic preci pitation is caused by mechanica l lifting of moist ai r

ove r moun tai n ranges. Notable examples include the western side of the
Cascade Mo u nta ins, the weste rn sid e of the Andes in Chilc. nnd the weste rn
coast of Norwa y. On Ihe lee side of mo untain barrie r.; are dry areas, called
rai n sha dows, s in ce mos t of the moistu re is d ro pped as rain o r ~now ove r the
mountain ranges. Good eu mples of ra in shadows can be found east of the
Cascades in Wash ingto n and O regon a nd ellS! o f the Sie rra Nevad a range in
Ca li fornia (see Fig. 1- 10).
Condensatiun of water vapor illto cloud drople ts occurs d ue 10 eoo lillg
of moist a ir to a te mpe ratu re below the slI\u ration poin t for wa ter vapor. '11lis
is most co mmonly achic"c d through "ertkal lifting to levels whe re pressu re
a nd te mperature a re lower. A large pon ion of the a tmosphe ric mass lies
within 18.000 ft o f the surface nn d conta ins mo st o f the clouds a nd mo isture.
Co ndensa tion ca n be ca use d by (I ) ad ia batic cool ing ( no heM loss to surro u ndi ngs), (2) mixing of air masses ha vi ng d iffe ren t te mpe rat ures. (3) cool
in g by ad vection of co ld a ir masses. and (4) cooling by r.ldiatioll. A d iabll lic
coo ling is by far the mosl im portan t produce r o f appreciable precipitatio n.
Ann ~ .t

,-,Ro,nroU

I'.c<:tpitation (CONUS)

('r><~)

Figu<-e 1-10
Distribution 01 owroge annual pre<ipiIQlion

0('OS5

tI._ United States.

Hydrolog;e

Pr;nc;pJe~

23

Dew. frost. and fog are minor producers of preci pitation caused primarily by
adveetivc Il nd radiati"e cooling.
Small condensation nucle i must be prese nt for the formation of cloud
droplets. Such nuclei come from mll ny sources. such a~ occlln salt. du ~t from
clay soils. industrial com bustion products. a nd vok anocs.llnd they range in
size from 0. 1 J.L to 10 J.L. Cloud dropkts originally average 0.0 1 mm in dia mete r. and it is onJy when they e:tceed 0.5 mm that significant precipitatio n
occurs. It may take hours for a sma ll raind rop (I mm ) to grow on Hco nden sa tion nucleus. As vapo r-laden ai r rises. it cools liS it e:tpllnds; and as sa lUration occurs. water vapor begi ns to condense on the mos t aeti"e nucle i. T he
principal mechanism for the supply of wa te r to the growi ng droplet in early
stages i~ diffusion of wa ter-vapor mole<:ulcs down the vapor-press ure gradie nt toward the droplet su rface. As the dropl ets increase in mass. they begin
to move relative to the ove rall cloud. Howeve r. other processes must support
the growt h of droplets of sufficient sile (0.5-3.0 mm) t(> overcome ai r resista nce and to fall as preci pitation. These include the coalescence process and
the ice-c rys ta l procc~s.
The coalC5ccnce prIKt'SII is considered dominant in summer sho wer
precipitation. As wa te r droplets f;111. the smaller ones are overta ken by
larger ones. and drople t size is increased through collision. This can produce
signifiennt precipiuuion. especiall y in WHrJU cumulus clouds in tropical
regions. T he ice-crystal P'Ol't' att racts condensatiun un freeling nllcle i
because of lowe r "apor press ures, The ice crys tals grow in size through
co nlact with o lher particle:>. and collisions cau!>C snownakes 10 form. Snowflak es nw y change into rain drople ts afte r ente ring air in whic h lhe temperatu re is above freezing. Sno ..... fa ll and snowmelt processes are presen ted
in detHi l in Chapter 2.

Point M.a$u.-.ment
The main source of moisture for annual rai nfail lotals is e\'aporation from the
OI:eans: thus. precipitation tcnds to be heavier ncar the cOllstlines. wit h distortio n due to orogr~ p hic effects- that is. cffl.'Cts of changes in elevation over
mountain ranges. In general. amount and freq llencyof precipita tion is grellter
on the windward side of mou ntain barrie~ (the western side for thc Un ited
States) anu less on the Ice side (eastern side). IlIso shown in Figu re 1-10.
Considerable amollnts of preci pi tation da ta lIre available from the NWS. the
USGS. anu various local governmental agencies. A number of use ful websites
for precipItation da la are listed in Append ix E and on the textbook website
http://hydrology.rice.edu. Inte rp retati on of national networks of minfnl1 data
shows ex treme variability in space and tim e. as can be see n in lHm ual an d
month ly variations in Figu res 1- 10 and 1-1 1. respeclj,ely.
Time va riation of precipitat io n occu ~ seasona lly or within a si ngle
storm. and distributions vary with storm type. int ensity. duration. and time

1.3
PRECIPlTAT10N

Jj
1,

,!

w
vi
~

".
~

"o

Hydrologic Principles

"'""""

,~

.~

1.07
1.31
2. 20
3.47

Son f ""'IC'KO, CA
Portland, 011
o.n~.r, CO
51 loui., MO
N.w Orl... ru, IA
Aloin, rx [.-..or Howtonl
New YorI< , NY
Miami, Fl

2.3"
2.91
5 .82
9.62
15.67

...

'"

.00
2,97
4,53

10,64

,.~

'"

7.66
6.53
8.79
14.01
"3.00
9,55
15.10

of year. Prevailing winds and reillti\c temperat ure of land and pTOJlimity of
borderi ng ocean hll\'c an effect. One intcresti ng stlltistic is the maximum
recorded rainfall that can occur 11.1 a single gage. These dala are shown for
eight major U.S. cities in Table 1-2. TIle highest \'alue fo r 24-hr rai nfall in
Ihe United SUites wlls43 in. (1092 mm) in AII'in near Houston. TX. indicating thc impaet of seve re storms and hurrica nes near to.Ul al areas. World
precipitation rccords. shown in Table 1- 3. clearly in di ~lc the effect of proJlimiry!O major Qccans. as in th e ClISe of Iru.lia.
Seasonal or monthly dis tributio ns for the Uniled States arc shown
in Figu rc 1- 11 . where it is clear that areas such as Florida, California, and
the Pacillc Nort hwest have significant seasonal rainfall patterns compared
to most areas in t he COU nU )' an d al ong Ihe eastern seaboard. Also. th e
west and sout hwest arc signi ficl1 n!l y d rier th an Ihe east or nor thwest. But
the values shown arc deceptivc in tha t high-intensity thunderstorms or
hurrica nes can produce IS 10 30 in. of ra infa ll in a mailer of da)'~ alo ng
the Gulf and Atla nlic coasts. For exam ple. O regon a nd Washington
rece ive Tllost of Ihe ir rainfall in th e win ter fro m fronts Ihlll move across
th e area. ,,'ne reas in Florida thunders torms and hurricanes prod uce large
summcr to tals. Soulh ern Cn lifornia. where rnost of fhe popul at ion resides.
TobI.l-3 world ~ecord Rainfall.

"""'...
1 m;"
lS min

II"

".
,.".
2<1 h,

".".
,

"

in.

1.50
7.80
15.80
52.76
72. 40
99.-42
253.00
366.1 4
1041.78

mm
38

'98

'"

1,3 40
1,840
2,500
6,443
9,300
26,461

lcca~on

Ik>ror, Guodeloupe
Plumb Poi,.., Jomo,co
Shongdi, Chit'lO
llebu"., Re.Jn.on
Cherropunii, Ind ia
Cil,oo., lleunion
Comm..-IOI'I, I.e R_ _
Cherrapunji, India
Clwropunji, India

2S

"

Chapter 1

gcts significan tly tUl> rai nfa ll tha n the northern part. T his differe nce ill
avail able wa ter led 10 the building of the California Wa te r Pruject . which
u ansport s wal er hundreds o f miles from the reservoirs in the narl ll to the
Los An ge les area.
Hourly or even more deta iled vllrh'l io ns of rai nfall arc o fle n important for planning WilI er reso urce projects. especiuJly urban drainage syste ms. Figure \ - 12 shows the cumu l ali~ e rainfall for a major nood in th e
Houston area frolll ] 979. Area l r.:linfalls such as shuwn in Figure 1-13 fu rm
T .S. Allison. which are useful in urban hydro logic st udies. The intensil )' and
durat ion of rainfal l events and spatial vH ri lltio n~ nrc importalll in determining Ihe hydrologic response for a wate rshed. Such dala are available onl y

,
~

'"38
"

Mr. l)a.i$on
AI...... TX

,,
~

:;;

'"
",6

'2 1.4

DowO~miaol.

~, ,
8
g

Freep.m . TX

< 6

Poft A. lhur. TX

k
II UNO" C.rbide.

~ TUM City. TX -

LL

'r-z

IJtf

RLM

'!-

(V""'" Bayou). -

Noon

24

M.d

Noon
2!i

Mid

t'oo"

M.d

16
' I1mc

Figure 1-12
Accumulated ra infcU 10.. the July 1979 storm event near Houston, TX .

)
}
o

o~

1-0

--"---

27

28

Chapter 1
from sophis ticated rainfall reco rding networ ks, usua lly locilled in large r
urban areas an d along major rh 'er basins. Rain fa ll gage ne twork!; nTt: maintained by the NWS, the USGS, and local county flood cont rol dis tricts and
utilit ies. An excelient source of rai nfa ll dnl n is now available on specific
websites, suc h as National Climmic Data Ce nter (NCDC) and NWS (see
Appendix E).
Rainfall gages may be of th e record ing (Fig. 1-1 4a) or non -recording type, but recordin g gages 8 TC req u i r~d if th e time distribu tiun of rainfall is desired, as is of len the case fo r urba n drainage or nood co nt rol
works. The recording gage operates from a small lip ping bucket thaI
records on a daJa logger. every 0.1 or 0.01 in. of rainfall (or 0.1 o r I mm
in Canada). Th e dat .. aTC displaycd in 3 form shown in Figure 1-12 as a
cUlD ulative mass curvc and can be readily inler preled fur 10la l vol um e
and inlensity variations. Observers usuall y report daily or 12-hr amounts

p,.e<iph~lion

JillJ
Re<:eive,

,-- ---~

"'unnet

'--

Tippona butke.
Smp ""corder

,o.

R=l"V<>Ir

\i""

M~a.uring

'"'"

ICl

..

,
"',re" mut.lur
~

(oj

Tim<: (hr)
(b)

Figure 1-1 4<1

Record ing ~pping bucket gog". Trace relurn~ to zero olter each inch of roinloll.
The slope of the troc" regi.le .. inte~i ly (in./lwl.

Hydrologk Principles

29

figurel-14b
Typic~

f&CQfding goge.

of r3i nfa ll (in. or mm) for nun-recording gages. provid in g little informa
tio n on intensity. A typical rai nfall and stream gage with te lemetry is
shown in Figure l-14b.
Point rainfall can be plotted as accumul ated tOlal rainfnll or as rainfall
intensity vs. time al a particular gage. The first plot is referred toas a cumu
lative mass CUPie (Fig. 1- 12). wh ich can be ana lyzed for n varicly of storms
to delcrmine the frequency and character of rainfall at a given site. A hyet~
graph is a plot of rainfall intensi ty (in.lh r) YS. time. and one is dcpicled in
Example 1-2 along with (,;u mulatiye mass curves for wtlll ra infall. Hyelographs lIrc often use d (IS input to hydrologic com puter models for predicting
watershed response 10 input rainfall.

HYTOGRAPHS AND CUMUlATIVE PRECIPITATION

Table EI-2 is a record of precipitation from a reco rding gage for a storm
in Texas. for the period between midnight and 11:15 ..... 101. on Ihe same
day in increments of 0.25 hr. For the data given. develop the rainfall hyetographs and mass CUl""CS. Find Ihe maximum-intensity rainfall for the
gage in in.!hr.

EXAMPLE 1-2

Chapre, 1

30

- -

- -

Tobie El:2
- R,'"- loll DolO f om 0 RiKOI"'9 Gage
Inlensity
(in'/",)

",Iu,

Ro;nfoll

InIIfIsify

lin.1

(in./hrl

0
002

0
008

5.75

0.:24
0. 24

0.07

02

378
3"
3.9

0.75

0.'

1,)2

'0

0 ..55

1.25
L5
1.75

0.'

0.'
0.'
0.08
0
08
0,.

"~

Rainlol

0
025
0.'

'"

lin1

0. 62
0.62
0.B2
0.88

'.0
225

"

3.5
3.75
' .0

1 87
2.32

,.
,.

3.1

).12

4.25

3A

"

3.25

lA7

..,

".

4.75

' .0
5.25

"
SOlunON

.,

02 4

3.62
3.68
3.72

032

0'
M

' .0

' .1
' .3

7.25

4,93

2.52

"

'A

7,75

'"

0"
0."

6.17

"

0'
0.'

6.27
6.29

8.75

'0

O.OS
0.04

"6.31

9.25

"9.75

00<
0.04
0.04

'"
."

\0.0
1025
10.5
10.75
11.0
11.25

0 .2 4
0.16

0.'

'"
'"
o.:n

.0
25

032

3.54

0 .24

3.95

6.75

016
0 ..56
0. 10
1.48

092
108

"3.0
2.75

6.25

6.34
6.35
6.36
6.37
6.38

0 0<
0.'"
0.'"
0.04
0.0<1

To plot the hyelogrnph fo r a gage. we sublrnct Ihe measurement fo r eac h

lillie period from that afthe previous lime period, and divide by the lime
step 10 com pute inlCllsily as shown in the table. Because the data are

given as a cumulative read ing. the mass curves arc simply a plot or the
data ~l S given (see Fig. El-2).
F"ogu.. EI-2
10101 gage roinlQlI
and gage roinfoll
inlen5 ily.

,
-,

.,
~ 3
2

.!

5
6
7
TIn 'IKMIB)
(. )

10

II

Hydrologic Pril'l(iple.

"

1f ,',t--o-------3

"t--

]0

II

'llme (houn)

'"
The maximum in]ensi ty for the gage OCClIrred around 4:00
(3.1 - 2-12) in.

0.25 hr

A.M.

.
=

3.12 mAn

'11lis ma.~imum intensity appcar~ as the talles] bar un the hyetograph and
as the region of grca test ~ I ope on the cu m ulative precipitation curve.
This i ll ustrates that the mllss curve is Ihe integra! of the hyetograph. as,
in probability theory. the cumula ti ve distribution function is the integral
of the probability density function. Note that the gage had two dis tinct
periods of intense rainfall. These pe riods of rainfall intell5ity bave the
capacity to produce significant runoff a nd flooding.

Sta tist ical methods (Ch apL er 3) can be appl ied to II IOllg Lime se ries o f
rai nfa ll data. For example. ra in fa Ll s o f variou~ duralion ranging from 5 min
1024 br ca n be anal y-te d LO deve lop an estimAte of. for cx ample. lhe 100-yr
freq ue ncy event. The se da ta a rc fitled wi t h a con tour line 10 fo r m o nc o f t hc
c ur ves on the inlensity-d urMtiu o-(requency (lOF) e urVC$ in Figure 1- 15 ,
Ot he r IDF probability lines are d erived in n sim ilar fashio n for Ih e 2-yr. S.y r.
In-yr. 2Syr. a nd SO-yr design rai n fa I L~. It should be nOlcd th at IO F c ur vcs do
nOI rcprcseutt hc lime history o f act ua l s torms. Oala points o n au IOF cur" e
are usually derived from many ~cg rne",s of longe r s tomls. a nd 1he val ues
extrapolated by frequenq <l nalysis. 1t can be seen thai the intensity o f rainfn ll
te nds 10 decrease wil h increasing du ration of ra in fall for c llch of t he IOF
cu rves. InslCad of analyzing historica l rai nfa il lirnc se ries. thc IOF cur.cs cll n
be used to derive design rllinfall evenLS, such as Ihe 10-yr. 2- hr stoml. which
equa ls 2.0 in./h r. or the IO-yr. 24-h r $IOrrn. which eq uals 0.3 in .lh r or 7.2 in. in
24 hr. O ne of Ihe homcwor k problems ind icatcs how 1his proccdurc is carri ed
OU1. Such design storms arc oft cn used as inpll t1u a hydrologi!; model for
dra inage design o r nood analysis (sec Ch apters 5 .'Iud 6).

31

32

Chapter 1

figlWe 1-15
Inten si ty-clurolion
frequency cllrves

to..

Houston, TX.

.1

20
(min)

JO

4()

60

(b .)
Du"'lIon

It is sometimes necessary to estimate poi nl rainfllllal a given location

from recorded values at surrounding sites. The NWS (1972) has de\'elopcd
a method for this based on a weighted ave rage of surrou ndi ng val ues. The
weights are reci procals of the sum of squares of distances D, measured from
the poinl of in tercst. Th us, for four rain gages where one of them dkl not
record ( PI), one would estim ate D2. 0 3, and D4. distances from the nonfunctional gage. T hen th e estimate for PI. based on measured values o f Pl,
n , and P4. would be given by Equation 1-8 bc:low wilh Ihe weights de termined by the in verse sq uare of the distance away from PI .

D2=r2+r.

(1--6)

W = I / D2 = weigh t,

(1- 7)

rai nfall estimate = ~Pi lV/ + Wi.

( 1-8)

Hydrologic Principles

Artd P...apikrtion
Predict ing water$ h~d respunse to a given precipitat ion eve nt often requires
knowl edge of the averagc rainfall til at occurs O\'cr a watershed area in n
specified dura tion. Thc average dept h of precipitation over a specific wiltershed ari:a is more accurately estimated for an area that is we ll mooitored.
Three basic methods exist to derive arcnlly ave raged values from point rainfall data: the arithme tic mcan, the Thiessen polygon method. and Ihe isohyet ul Ine thod. Ra dH-based est imates of rai nfall provide an interesting
alternll tive for area~ where rainfall gages mll y be lacking, and these methods
arc di:scribed in Chapler II.
The si mplest method is an arithmctk mean of IKlint rainfalls from
available gages [Fig. 1-16<1[. This method is satisfactory if the gages are uniformly distribu ted and individual variations are not [ar from the mean rainfalL The method is not PllrticuJarly accurate for large r aren~ where rainfall
distribution is variable.

2.0-_
.I.S-

f'tgl.lre 1-16

The d ifferent

ra inloll
averaging methods
con prodv<:e different
reslll15 for the some

1.1< + U .. 1.0 _ 133 in.

1

l.2 "_

watershed.

" 1.0"
lln. - 5.Smi
<a) ArilhmellC ",un

,.2.0'
P,

A,

( in.)

(mi!)

...,

1.'

'.0

1 -

'2
,,.,.
n~

A ,IA,

i /',}(A,IA,
(,n.)
OJ)

".,
OJOS
",
0."
0.2t6
OAtS
t.lUJ

0.42

l.3S i".

(bITh,ew::n polygon_lhod

"'- "'-,..
1.2"

1.8'

,.,.
1.0-

lsoh,.., .
( in.)

2.0
U

,-

'"

'.

,., ,,.
,"2.'. ,.,
'-'
,,,.,"
"

( mi ')

(in.)

(in. - mi' )
t4.7

3.41

23.6

A,-eragc r"infall _ 3O.6121 6 _ I.JO in .

Eil!malod
(~) l S<)h)~ lal

mC11>od

Chaplell
The ThIesse n polygon method [Fig. l-l 6(b)] allows for area l weigh ting
of rainfall from each gage. Such a polygo n is Ihe loc us of poinls closer to the
given gage Iban to any other. Connecting li nes are drawn between stat io ns
located on a ma p. Perpen dicular biseclors are drawn 10 form polygons
around each gage, and the ralio of the area of each polygon Ai within the
wa tershed bou nd(uy 10 the lotal area AT is use d to weigh each slat ion's
rain fa ll. The me thod is unique for each gage network lind does not allow for
orogra phic cffects (those due 10 elevation changes). but it is probably the
most widely used of the three available methods.
The isuhychll met hod IFig. 1- I6(c)1involves drawi ng contours of equal
preci pitat io n (isohyets) and is the most accurate method. Howe.'cr. an
cXlcnsiw gage network is requi rcd todraw iso hyelS aocurately. The rai nfall
calcula tion is based on fin ding Ihe average rainfall between cach pair of
contou rs. mul tiplying by the area between the m, to taling these products. and
divi ding by Ihe tota l area. Thc i~oh ycl al met hod can include orogruphic
effects and storm morpho logy an d can re.present 1111 accu rate map of th e
rai nfall panem . a~ shown for T. S. A llison for a watershed in Houston, TX
(see Fig. 1-13).

RAlNFAU AVERAGING METHODS

EXAMPlf 1- 3

A wa tershed co"cring 28.16 mil has a s~!e m of seven rainfall gages. as

shown on the map in Fignre EI-3a. Using the 101111 Siorm rai nra ll deplhs
given in the accom p,luying tablc, detcrmine the a'er.lgc rainrall Q\'cr th e
wntc rshcd using (n) arith metic ~lVc r ng i ng and (b) thc Thiessen polygon
me thod.

....
A

B
C
D

,e
G

lloinfol

~n.1

li". - ) 9m;

5. 13
6.74
900

'"

5.56
4.98
4.55

Fogure E1-la

Plocement of roinFol1gage, 10 rllCOrd rcmFoI1

and re$ulrm9 ourRcw in tnll wOtefshed.

Hyd rologic Principles

(a) For the arithmetic averaging method. only the gages within the
watershed are used in thi~ example the gages Band D. Thus. the
ari thmetic average is

lS

SOWTlON

(6.74 + 6.01)/ 2 = 6.38 in.

(b) The first step in the Thicr.s.::n polygon method is to connect al[
nearby rain gages by straighl lines. The result is a system of trio
angles. as ~hown by the dashed lines in Figure EI-3b. I\ext. we
construct perpendicula r bisectors of the dashed lines in Figure
E I-3c. The bisectors meet at a common point inside or outsidc
the tria ngle. T he resulting polygons around each r:tinfall gage are
known as the Thiessen polygons.

'"

" ~,," ,, ~

1 in,

3.9 mi

d,

,,
d,

,,

,",,

,,
,,
,

,/

,"
Figure El-3b
ResultIng bisectors of roinfall gages to find roiofo il in the W(ller$hed.

Figun El-3c
Biseetou

for 1fI. Thieuen potygons.

T he area of each polygon within the wll tershed boundary is measured

using a map tool or GIS, or by counti ng squares on graph rape r. and
each individual area is divided by Ihc 10lal watcrshcd area lind mult iplied
by the depth of rainfall. meaburcd al it~ corresponding gage. The sum
of frad io n "rea times rai nfa ll for all the gagcs gives the avcrage rai nfall
over thc wlltcrshed. These comp utat io ns. easily carricd out in Microsoft
E:o.: cel. are shown in the following table. A po:rpendicular bisector sepa
rates the triangle legs into two equallcngth segments. it intersects the leg
at a 9O-dcgree (lOgic. "l'lle Thiessen polygons that weigh each rain gage
are crented by the solid perpendicular hisector lines and Ihc boundary
of the watershed.

Chapler I

Table EI - 3

,"'-,

5.13
0,74
9 .00
0.01

E
F
G

'"
'"

4 ..55

("JWAol

A;

....~
'"
6.70
1.77
13.02
0.93
2.08
1.42
28. 16

A;/k

0.062
0,238
0,063
0.463
0029
0.09.5
005O
1.000

"'.,

0.32
1.60
0.57
2.78
0.16
0 .47
0.23
6. 13

Rodor-Bosed Prec:ipi lolion

Advances in wca lher rada r (,alled N EXRAD for nexl-gencrntion ra dar)

in Ihe carly 19905 greall)' improved our abili ty to determine rain fa ll rates
over walershcd areas. NEXRA 0 rene"s off raind rops in the Ql mosphere
10 estimate r:tinfall rates in t ime lind space. NEX RA D is a IO-cm- wa,clenglh radar Iha t records renectivi ty. radial velocity. and spectrum width
of reflected signals. A more comiliele desc ription of rad ar data prod ucts
and process ing may be fou nd in Chapler 11 an d in Cr um and A lbe rt y
(1993). Kla7.ura and lmy (1 993), Smith el al. (1996), F ulton et 01. (1998).
and Vieux (2004).
Until the advent of the NEX RAD system natioDwide, gaging na lions
wcre the only source of rainfall data for hydrologic modcling and flood prediction. Radar dala can be tr.mslaled from Ihcir Original radial coord inates
from the source radar inlo a griddcd coordinate system with I.O-k m2 resolution grids. Rece nt efforts have bee n successful in measuring ra infa ll rates
an d cum ulative IOtals us ing radar tcchnology developed an!.! implemented
in Ihe 1990s (Vicux and Bedient. 1998: Bedicnt et aL. 2000, 2003; Vieux.
20(4). Figure 1- 17 dcpicts the Iype of radar rainfall information ava il<t ble
from NEXRAD radar systems every 5-6 min ules for a storm e'"en t in louisiana. Chapters lOand I I present the background and details for using radar
data 10 support hydrologic prediction from models and for associa tcd flood
alert systems.

37

Hydrologic Principles
N

+
II.o;n(,,1I (inlllr)

+--.f7~

o.,.,o
1.1). L~

1.5-2.0
2.()'2.5
2.53.0

Figu... 1-17
Typical NEXRAD rainfall dolo far a wolenlled located in cenlrollauisiono.

TIle h~'d rologic cycle is a very complex series of proccsse:! (Fig. I- lb), bu t
under certain welldefined conditions the response of a wa tershed to rllinfa ll,
infiltrat ion, and evapo ration cn n be calc ulnted if simple assumptions can be
made. A wlItef1hed is a contiguo us area that drains [0 an outlet, suc h [hat
precipitation that falls wit hin the wa tef1hed runs off through Ihat single out
let (the tenn catchment is sometimes used synonymo usly ror jusl lhe surface
po nion orthe water.;hed). For extlmplt. if the rainfall rate over a watershed
area is less than the rate o f infiltration inlo soil and if there is ample storage
in soil mois ture. then direcl runoff from the surface and result ing st reamflow
will be zero. If, on the olher hand, antecede nt or p re\~ous rainfall has fil led
soil storage and if the rainfall rate is so lArge Ihal infihralion and eva ponllion
can he ne gleCled. then the vo lume of surface TUnoff will be equal 10 the
volume of rainfa ll. [n mOSI cases. however. the conditions fa ll ~om ewhe re

1.4
THE HYDROI..OGIC

evetI

38

Chapler 1

between these limitations. and we must carefully measure or calculate morc

than onc component of the cycle to predict watershed respo nse. The wa teTshed is the basic h~'drologi c un it within which aU measurements. calculati o ns.
and predictions are made in hydrology (see Fig. 1-13).

The basic compo ne nts of the hydrologic cycle include precipitatio n, c,'a pora ti on, evapOl ra nspiralion, infil tration, overla nd flow, strea m floW, 3nd

ground water flow (Fig. I- I n). The movement of wale r (rainfall and runoff) through various phases of the hydrologic cycle vari es greatly in time

and space, gh'i ng rise to extremes of floods or drough ts. The magnitude
and the frequency of occurrence of these extre mes are of great in le restto
the e ngineering hyd rologist from a design and operlltions sta nd point. In
some cases, it is possible to pc rforlll l1 wate r budget calculati on in orde r to
predict changes in slO rage to be eill:~c ted based on inpu ts and o utp uts from
the sys tem.
For any hyd rologic system, n wate r budget can be developed 10 account
(or various flow pathways and storage com pancnl'l. The hydrologic conti nu ity cquation for any systcm is

dS

I - Q= -

III '

(1- 9)

where
I '" inflow in L 3,(,
Q :: outflow in L}It,
clS / dl = changc in stamg.: per time in L3/t.

The si mplest system is an impervious inclined plane, confi ned on all fou r
sides with a single outlel. A small urban pa rking lot follows such II model.
and as rainfall accumula tes on the surface. the surface dele nlio n. o r storage, slowly inc reases and even tuall y becomes o utflow from the sys tem,
Neglect ing evaporation for the period of input , ,lIld assuming II long rainfall
time pe riod, all input ra infall eventually becomes ()ulflow from the area,
bu t delayed somew hat in time. The differenCt: between inflow to the parking lot and o utflo w at any time represc nts Ihe change in storage [Eq. (1 - 9}J.
Thus. the tOlal storage volume thnt is eventually re leatiCd from the area is
equa l 10 the accumulated difference in inflow volume and outno ..... volume.
o r (I - Q)ar.
The sa me concept can be a pplied to small basins o r large waters heds.
Note tha t urban watersheds include bot h nat ural und mo n_made elements.
For a given time pe riod. a coneeptu ul mathematical model for the budget
for the urban hydrologic cycle shown in Figure 1- 18 would become. in units
of dept h (in. or mm) over the basin.

P - R - G -

1:: -

T = t.S.

( 1- 10)

Hydrologic Prin(ipjes

,
,,

,"

,,

Figun 1-18
lhbon hydrologi<; ~Ie" A combino~on 01 runoff From noturo l wrroondings ond mon-made droinoge
I~tems, these , .. noffs come IogeIh 01 0 single outlet.

where
P = precipitat ion,

R "" surface runofF.

G = ground water now,
E "" evaporation,
T = transpiration.
tJ.S "" change in storage in a specified time pe riod.
A runoff coefricient can be defined as the rat io RI P for any watershed.
Note that infilt ration I is a loss from the surface system and it gain to ground
W81er, and thus cancels out of the overall budget above. Also. the un its of
inches (or mm) represent a volume o f water when mu ltiplied by the surface
area of the wa tershed. If II wa ter body reechoes inflow for 11 period of time,
the cha nge in water depth due to the inflow ca n be easily calcuilltcd. The re
,Ire two ways of de noting the vol um e of wll ter that is added, eithe r 11~ II flow

,.

Chapler 1

rate for n specified time or as II wa te r depth across an area. The following

eqo3tiun rc.~u lts:

volume = (Oow ratc)(timc) = (deplh)(wntcrshed area).

(I- II )

T ypical units may be English o r metric, as indica ted below:

now rate

cfs or m)/s

time

~econds.

depth
area

in. or mm
acres. sq mi. or sq kill

da ys months

T o convert from II now to a change In wate r dcplh. rearrange the eq uation

above nnd mu lti ply by necessary oon\'crsion fac tors:

depth =

(flow ratc}(time)(conn'rsion ractor)

.
watershed area

(1 - 12)

Conversion factors"'(30 days/mon th) (24 hT/day) (3600 slhr) (1 acreI43,560 ft)
( 12 in.lfl). No te tha t 1.0 .". inch = 1.008 cfs hr.

WATER BALANC IN A LAKE

EXAMPlE 1- 4

For u given month. II 3UO-acrc In ke hns 15 cfs or innow, \3 cfs of oUlnow.

and a 10Iai sto rage increase of 16 ~1 c-f.. A USGS gage next to the lake
recorded a total of 1.3 in. preci pitation (or the lake for tht:' month. Assuming that infiltration loss is insignificant fo r the lakc. determine th e evaporation loss. in inches. ovc r the lake for the mot11h.
SOlUTION

Soh'ing the water balance for inflow I and o utflo w 0 in a lake gives, for
evaporation.

evapo.alio n

I "

"

inn..,,,

.S.

prccipil"lion

change in S10"'1l"

o +
"Uln"...

,(el'::'ot'c"")"('o"::14"3=.'o60""ft"')"("12:c"in".I"ft~)(c'3e600",,,":::ho'::)(e22'"hc"O"0''C'),(l~OCd~'"'Yc"""Oe'o""h~)("I""c,o""ot"
h)
300 ac

= 35.70 in ..
(13 ft 3/s)(acl43.560ft1)(12 in l ft)(36()} slhr)(24 hrfday)(JO day/month )( 1 mon th)

0"

300 ac

= 30.94 in ..

P = !.3 in.,
( 16 ac - [t)(12 in.!ft)
.
.uS =
300
- 0.64 III ..

"

= (35.70) - (30.94) + (1.3) - (0.64) in.,

E = 5.42 in.

Hydrolog ic Principles
WATER BAl.ANCE IN A SWIMMING POOl
A swimming pool (20 fl x 20 fl X 5 ft) has a smalllellk allhe bottom.

41

EXAMPI..E 1-5

You are giveo measurements of min fall, evaporalion, and water level on a
daily mlsis for 10 days. As an cnginct!r, use lhe waler balance to detenni ne

the average dlli ly leakage out of the swimming pool in ftJfday. Assume the
pool is exactl)' 5 fl (60 inches) deep al the end of day I.
Evoporo~on

Rain"'.

Do,

[in.'

[in.)

0'
0

1.0

"0

20

,,
,,
3

9
10

0.'
0.'
0
0'
0.'
0.5

60

"

"

The watcrblllance equation becomes;

outnow = precipitation

evapomtion - J. storage

All values must be in Ihe same units. Thus. the total change in storage
is 52 60 '" -R in. The precipitation is 1.0 + 2.0 + 4.0 = 7 in. The
evaporation is (7)(0.5) = 3.5 in.
Th us,
OUlnOW '" 7 3.5 - (-8).
outnow - 11.5 in.
Outflow should tk: in ftJ Ida),. The height change is dlstritmted over the
pool area.
OulnOw

(11.5 in.)(1
ft- / 12;,~".~)(~20"""~)(~20~r,,,J),
.
10 days
'

:z - _

oUlflow ... }S,l flJ/day.

The Wafenhed
The wa ters hed or basin area is an important physiographic pro pert)' that
de tennines the vol um e of ru noff to be expected frOln " giv"11 rai nfall event
that falls over the area. Wate rshed areas vary in sile from II few IIcrcs in
an urban area 10 tho usands of squa re miles for a lI]<ljor river basin. T he
", ..fershed dh'lde is th e loci of poi nts (Ihe ridge li ne) thn! sepnrates two

SOLUTION

"

Choplef 1

f igure 1-190
Typical woIe"hed
areo shapes. The

d.He ..,nce in dlOroffecls timing cod

peal:. flow of ronof!' to
lt1e OIIt1et.

I. Elonptcd WIpe

2. Conuntratcd.nape

ndjacent wate r~ h cds. which then d rain inlo IWO d ifr~ rcn l o ml ets. Figure
1- 19:1 depic ts ~e\lc r al watershed :l rCilS thai have bee n defi ned based o n

topograp hic or elevation da ta.

The topog.raphic divide for a basin is usually d rawn o n a USGS map or

quadrangle sheet ( I :24.00,) scale) or 01 her topographic map by identifying high

poin ts and contours of constant elevat ion \0 dctcnninc d irections of surface

rU n()ff. The area encompassed by the divide is the watenhcd area. Ru noff
originates at highcrelcvHtions and mo~s toward low!:r elevillions in n di rection

perpendicular to the contour lines, as shown in Figure \- 19b. Note thai the

.~

---. ' -........ . .

. .. . ........ fIo>opI.

iii

"".. _

~ S ........ _

1l

Figure 1-19b
Sobwa!er~ed

delineotioo wilh oV8.lond

Row direction ond "levg~on cOfItours.

"

Hydrologic Principles

IIrrOWJ; indicate the directions of now in each subarea (A th rough G). and Ihat
nows generall y move toward the nearest Stream in a dow n.gradien t direction.
11\ general. the large r the waters hed arctl. the grealer Ihe surface runoff
rale. the greater the overlan d now rate. lind the greater the slren mnow rale.
Fo rmulas deve loped to relate pol'ak now to watershed area lake Ihe form
Qp = cA". where Qp - peaknow. A = walershed area. and c and II are
regression constants to be delermined (Chapler 3). Peak now is the produel
of a .;h:m nel cross-sectional area and its a\'erage velocity lit peak condit ions.
WlIlen;hed area is an important paromeler that governs penk now in mool
of the hyd rologic prediction methods described lale r in this chaptcr and
throughout the to:xt.
Wlilershed relld is the elevalion dirrerenee between t'""O reference
points within a walerse hed. Maximu m relief is the difference between the
highest point ont hc wittershed divide li nd the watershed oUllel. The lo ngi.
tud inal profile of Ihe mllin channel is a plol of elevation vs. horizontal dis
t:1Oce lind is an indicator of channe l gradient. Most streams. and especially
ri,ers. shuw a decrease in channel gradienl as one proceeds in II downstream
d ircction (see Fig. \ - IYb). This is due 10 the interaction of ool1om friclion
ami water depth. Channel grad ients vary from about 0.1 (10%) for a mounta in stream and a~ low as 0.0001 (.OJ%) for coastal area~.

Hydroiogisis arc conccrned with the am ount of surfacc runoff generated in 1.5
a watershed for a given rai nfall pattern. and attempts hnl'!;' been made to SlMFU RAlNFAllanalyze historical rainfall. infiltrat ion. evaporation. and sITeamnow data to RUNOf F
develop predictive rel at ionships. When rainfall exceeds Ihe infiltration TItle
atlhe surface. excC5S W(lter begins to accumu lnte as surface Siorage in snl3l1
depressions gove rned by surfacc topography. Event ually. the e nt ire area is
eontributiug to runoff althe outlet of a watershed.
The USGS as well as loe-al nood control agencies are responsible for
extensive hydrologic gaging networks wilhin the United States. and dat:1
gathered on an hourly or dai ly basis can he plotted for a given wa tershed 10
rel ate rainfall to di rect ru noff for various time periods. An nual rainf<lll- run
off rlii lat ionships remove ~easo nal crfects and other storage cffect'), ~o Ihal
the relat ionship of ra infall minus losses \IS. runoff em, ofte n be approximaled
by II li near regression li ne. The USGS developed a series of reports a nd
relationships for predicting noodpeak discharges fOT urban and ru ral areas
in the United States. Some of these are reviewed in O1apter 3.
Si mple ra infall-runoff re la tionships sho uld be use d in water
resources planning siudies o nl y where approx imate water b,.I:mccs ,tTe
requircd. A detai led knowledge o f the maguitude and time distrib ut ion
or both rainfall and runoff or strcamnow is required for most nood control
or noodplain studies. especially in urba n watersheds. Ma ny " 'ebsites listed
in Appe ndix E support USGS streamnow data from mOSI of Ihe slRlions
in the Uniled StatO:$.

Choplef 1
One of the simplest ra infa ll- runorr formulas, which is oflen used fo r
draina ge design purposes in small watc~heds andlor basins. is the Ratiflnlll
Met hod (Chapt ers 6 and 9). wh ich alloWll for the prediction of peak now Q p
(cfs) frol11 the fo rm ula
( 1-13)
where
C - runoffcodficie nt. variable "'ith lan d use.
i = inltmsi ty of ra infall of chosen frequency for a dura tio n equa l to
time of concentration I,. (in.lhr).
Ie :: equil ibri um ti me for rfl infn ll occ urri ng at th e most re mote portio n
of the basi n to con tribu te now <It the out let (min or hr),
A = area of wa":~hed (acres).
The Rational Mtt hod is usuall y all rib ut ed to Ku k hlin g (1889) and UoydDavies (1 906). but Mulvaney (1851 ) clearly oUlline(] the procedure in a paper
in Irelan(], The un(]crlying a~'Sumplion is that II stea(]y. uniform rainfall rate will
produce maxim um runoff when all pans of a watcrshed are contri bu ting to outnow, a condition thnt is met after the lime of ronccntrn tion I~ has elapsed. l i me
of concent ra tion tr is defined as the time for a wave of water to propagate from
the mos t (]istalll point in the basi n to the outle t (see Section 2.1). Runoff is llSswned lorench a maximum whcn Ihe ra inf311 intellsily lasts as long as the I". The
runoff coefficient is assu med consta nt during a stonn e\'ent. More details can
be found in later chapten and in Mt<:ucn (2005). TIle rational method is often
used in small urban areas to des ign (] rainage sys tems, includin g pipe systems.
cul verts. nn(] open channels. Chaplers 6 :md 9 prescnt (]etail.,(] di!ICussion and
examples of the rational method applied 10 small wa lershed areas. Larger W!Itersheds (greate r than a few square miles) usuall y requirc a consideration of lhe
entire hydrugra ph beQlt1Se timing and stordge issues becomc important. and the
ra tional met hod is usually limi tcd to basins less than a few hundred acres in size.

I..
STRfAMfLOW
AND THE
HYDiOGflAPH

The hydrologic cycle is shown as a schcm atk in Figure 1-1. where precipita.
tion /' initially fn lls on th e land surface, and it may distribut e to (iJl depression slorage , infil trate to become soil moisture an d sha llow ground water, or
tr ave l as interflow to 11 receiv ing stream. Evaporation is oft en a sma ll
co mpo nent of a specific storm event. si nce it is minimal as rain is actu!lll y
falli ng. and is usually o nly a factor in longe r-te"" wa ter bala nces. lJepression
storo1gc ca pacity is usu all y satisfied early in storm passllge. followed by infil trat ion capacity in to the soil (see Fig. 1- 20). Even tually, ove rland flow lI n(]
surface runoff comm encc aftcr soil storage an(] (]cpression storage are satis
fi ed. O verland now the,n quickly 1llm'es down -gradient luwa r(] the ncarest
small riv ulet or chan nel. whkh then n O \\~ into the nexl l:u gcr stream. and
eve ntua ll y rellches thc mai n stream chan nel as open-channel now.
Thc h)'drogni llh, a plol of now ra tc VS. time th at is mellsurc(] at a strea m
cross seclion. is m n(] ~ up primarily of various contributing Oows. Base now

Hydrologic PrilKiplelo
Figure 1- 20

tJ nifonn ,",nial l

Inr1IIr~,ion

Detention ",nlC

Dislribution of un~
/arm rainfall pr.
sented wiltl 0 runoH

hydrog'oph. Note
Itle poroll'leW aI i ...
lil1rot;on, de pression
storoge. a nd dele ...
tion storoge.

Timr (h,)

C<'1n also contribute and is produced from soil mois ture and ground waler
conlributions. The actual shape and liming of Ihe hydrogr~ph is determined
largely by lh~ siu. shape, slope.anll storage in the basin and by the intensi ty
and dura tion of ioput ruin fall. Chapter 2 prcsems these conce pts in more
delllilcd examples for ult imnte hydrogl"flph analysis. Evapormion and infiltration 10000<;Cs are COH:red briefly in Section 1.8. and in more dew il in Chapte r 2.
The classic conce pt of stream flow gene ration by ol'criand flow is d ue
to BorlOn (\933). who proposed that o,'erland now is com mon and :.real1y
widespread. Later in\'eSligaton; incorporat ed concepts of hele rogeneity.
wh ich e;lists aeross nalUml wate rsheds. a'lll develope d Ihc partial area contribulion concept (Belson. \964). Th is model recognized Ih:lt o nl y certain
portions of <l wate rshed regularly eonll"ibute ovo:rland now to streams and
thai no more than ubout 10% of a watershed contributes ove rland now. In
urban environmen ts with large arcasof illlpervious cover. Ihe o\'e rland flow
percentage may be larger. Significant surface runoff occurs only after ra inf:.11
intensity exceeds inml Tati on capacit y. or (j > f) and soil moisture SlOrag~
has been fi lled. Infiltration l is the loss n' te into the soil sy~tcm.
T he ehanrlt:1 m(IY contai n a C(:rlain amount of bascnow co ming from
ground wa ter and soi l oontribUlions even in Ihe abse nce of minfalL Discharge
frorn rai nfall excess. after infiltration losses have been subtracted. ma kes up
the dired-runotr hydrograph (ORO). The tO(nl Slorm h)'drograph consists of
direct runoff plus b.'1scflow. The duration of rainfall de tennines the portion of
watershed area con tribu ting to the pea k. rllld the in tensilY of rain fall determines Ihe resulting pea k now rate. If rninfallmaintains a con ~ t a n t intensity for
a very long time. maximu nl sto rage is :lchicved and a Shile of equilibrium discharge is reached. wh ere the hydrograph lends to \evel off to a constant val ue
for a period of time. The cooditio n of e<juilibrium discharge is sddom attained
ove r a large basin in nature because of the variabilit), of actual rainfall.
Figure 1-21 depicts several hyd rographs for a givcn ra infall from waler
sheds or ~i m il a r ~ize. but wilh di ffering ~hapc and la nd usc char"cterist i~. As

ChapJ8f 1
Q

, (0'

(a ) Elongated shape

( b) ConcentrJted shape

Figur. I-21
Land us.e e Ke<:tl on th8 hydrog roph for both types of wotenhcd shope. f or a natural WQtenhed, it can be ~t'n thO! the elongated shopo's hydrogroph iii longer and
ftc. a >mOU. r peak flow than th" coneeMoted shope's. In both CO~, however, the
eFred 01 development shows a dllCreos.e in liming and on incre<l1C in peak Row.
Development has a 9reater eKect on the concentrored shope.

Hydrologic; Princip!eJ

47

11 watershed develops wi th urbanization through time. the respo nse normall y

inerea.-.cs in peak now an d d!Xreases in tcrms of the tim e of peak. This is due
to incrcased impervious are as and grea ter ch nnnci density that spced~ runoff
toward the outlet of the basin (sec Chapters 6 and 9), As can be seen. the
shape and timing of the hydrograph arc large ly related to watershed shape
cham cte ristics. an d it is a eentml problem of h)'drology to unde rstand and
provide tools to predict thcse relations hips. As wate rsheds bt:come more
complex as they devc:lop or urbani ze through time, it becomes necessary to
use hyd rologic com puter models to si mulate watershed response to a gi ve n
inp ut rainfall and land use pallern (see C hapters 5. 6. and 7). Unit hydrograph
anal ysis and computat ional met hods are discussed in mo rc detail in Chapter
2 along with the effttls of land lU>C cha nges and ur baniztllion. as well as
ad va nced method:> for addressing overland now.

Surface Runoff F't.nomeno

1.7
HYDIlOGRAI'H

Fig ure 1- 22 shows a typical wa tershed area that recei"es rain fall input. Rain fall that falls on th e wate rshed makes its wa), from west 10 cast aeroo Ihe
area and finally nows out II I lhe outle t. Meteorological factors. ph)'Siogrnphic
or wate rshed factors. nnd hUlllan factors (i ,e .. la nd use cover) 01 11 contribu te
to the responsc at the ou tlet. Note tha t subareas G and F now out through
area D.t hen th rough B (areas E and C the n now into the confl uence whe re
Band C fl ow together). and fi nall y now through A and cu nt ribute to the

ANAlYSIS

"'

..

-,..~
...... . E 'l . .. ..

.......-

____ ...",,''''_rooI
_.... "'-"

-,..,

Figu... 1-22
Typical . ubwolershed delineation in on elongoted wOlershed.

48

Chopler 1

Oli liel. H ydrogra ph~ aTt nood routed thro ugh lhe strea m reactlcs lha1 are
numbe red 1 to 4 (Chapler 4).
Figure 1- 23 ill ust rates how Ihe lime area histogram i~ used to com
pute the hydrograph response from II wate rshed. The concept assumes
that the hydrograph is buill up by va rio us cOnlrihutions from areas of
eq ual travel time from the outlet. lsoc hro nes de fin e the Nubareas an d
t ravel limes an d th us II complex fllin fall evc nt can be analyzed by compUl
ing products of rainfall P j and area Ai' Surface ru noff from A 1 arrives at
the out let first. fo llowed by A2. A3. and $0 on. Note that rai nfall from
pe riod PI falling on A2 arri ves at the ou tle t 811 he same time as rainfall
from period P2 falling on A I, unci produces outnow 0 2. The hydrograph
pea k occu rs when all areas of the wa tershed are con lribut ing to the out Ie!.

Figure 1- 23
Time A.ea Method
for 0 hypotheticol
wotershed wim lou
oinloll, 'ec:orded
ond Ioul oreO$ delineated by iKlCh.one
line$. This method
is used to create 0
hyd.ogroph 01the

[soc:hrone of

,/

A,

A.

equa
lime_ 100U11el
_
_l _

~=::::::~~>--':'A~'__fl~'~A;'~::::~_OuIIeI
\
~,
,,
,
"

,J

__/-,t,---~
,,

"

"""',.

r-

,, "

r-

"
Tim e

P,
I

,
<

pcf
,

" " '"

TI~,

(b) Iblnfall h)olOgraph

(e) Time---;on:.

(d) HydroSr.ll'h al ",ule,

hillOgnl.m

Hydrologic Princ iples

49

The Clark unit hydrogrnph in HEC-I-IMS is based on usi ng a t ime arca

histogram (Chapler 5).
Oft~n the ti me dura tion of rain fa ll is usually lIIuch shorte r than the
tillle base of the hyd rograph. An actual nlinfall (in.) and associated hydrograph (efs) is depic ted vs. time in Figure 1-24 for lillie C ypress Cree k in
Houston fo r seve ral periods of inlense minfn ll. II can be see n Ihal lhe hyd rograp h rises to a pea k now find then rn-edcs to a ze ro now afte r aboul40 hr.
The ea rly part of the 3.3 in. rainfa ll infilwlted inlo the soil surfacc. and
resulted in about 50% as direct ru noff ront ri buli ng 10 the hydrograph. The
student should vc rify this by estima ting th e volume und er Ihe hydrograph
(3.5 sq mi bMi n) u ~ing a triangle to approximate the aren. and compare to
the recorded rai nfall.
An interesting concept is th at of uni form rainfall occurring for an
extended time o'"er a small w8tershcd . If rainfall contin ues at a CO IlStant
intensity for a very long period. storage is filled at some point. and th en an
equilib rium discharge can be rcached such tha I innow ;md oUlnow arc eq ua l
(Fig. 1- 25). The point P indical es the tim e al whic h the enlire di scharge area
cont ributes to the now. the time of roTlee nt ration. The eondil ioll of equ ilibrium discharge is seldom obse rved in nature. exce pt f(.)r very sma ll basi lls or
parking lots. beca usc of nat ural varia ti ons in rain fall inte nsity and d ura tion.
This conccpt is used la ter when the S -<u r ~e is discussed (or unit hydrographs
in Chaple r 2.
Some precipitation may percolate to the wa ter table. usually located
10 to 100 feet below Iho: ground surface in porous media. and may slowly
contribu ie flow to a strea m if t he water lablc intersects the Slream channel.
Bilse flow in II IlHlUral cha nnel is due to Ihese contri butiOllS (rom shallow
grou nd wale r and contributes so me flow to a hydrogr;lph. A simple COllstalll

Figure 1-24
Actual rainfall a nd

Oulflo .... rcsul!ing from 3.3 i~ . o(ro,~ "'.." a ).~ mP

"" Ion;hcd in Nunhw....s l HOUSIO~

hyd'ograph ,(!,ultirog from 3.3 in. of

rain ro.little Cwen

""
"

Creek.

""
H"

"

"
Tune (hi )

so

Chaple' I

Figur. 1-25
Equilibrium Hydrogroph . A r,"u~ of
uniform ro infall ovor

~inf.1I

a smoll wotonhed
in which equilibrium

Equil ibrium
di~rge

d i1dlorge is reoc:hed
when inflow and out.

Row OrO equal.

n"", ( hr)

base now is shown in Figure 1- 26. In la rge nat ural waters heds o r river basi ns.
base flo w may be II significant fractio n of streamflow. while it ca n oncn be
neglected in small, urbanized streams where overland (J ow predominates.
Base flo w com be sepnrate d from the tOlal storm hydrogmp h by a !lumber of
methods (Fig 1-27 ), tle scribed late r, in o rder 10 derive th e direct TIlno ff
(DRO) hydrograpll.
A Iypical hydrognlph is ch:u actcrilcd by (I) a rising limb, (2) II crest
.~ment .

and (3) a rt!l-ession l"U.,"e. as shown in Figure 1-26. The inflection

r--'-_~~I n ,nra'i _ volume llRO

Fallin, limb

Inl1ecllon
I.o::",::..ioo

"",

---------------------IIAle rl"" , (BF)

c
A

Figure 1-26
Compon..nb 01 o n oulflow hydrogroph. When
bw.,fJow i$ removed, the result is !I." dired ruooII
oorllow (OROI .

Figure 1-27
Two merlK.xl$ for bo ... flow
lin" ond Coooovel.

~porotion

(Stfoighl

Itfdrologic Principles
point on the fa lling limb is often assumed to be the poi nt where di rect ru noff
ends. Rain fall exccss P" is oblained by subtracti ng infi lt ration losses from
lolal storm rainfall (Fig. 1- 26), while evaporation can usually be neglected
for an indi vidua l storm e ve nt on a small basin. The DRO rcp resents the
hydrograph response of the watershed to rainfa ll excess p". defi ned as gros.~
precipitati on minus infiltra tion. The shape and timing of Ihe ORO hydrograph are related 10 Ihe dur<ll ion and intensity of T<linfall as we ll as the
various factors gove rn ing the wllter:; hed area.
Inf~troIion ond

!he Hydrogroph RetflO"M

The relal i"e contribution of each componenl 10 the hytlrograph is depe ooent
on rainfall ra te i rdative to th e infiltration rate f of thl! soil. Infiltration 1000s
co ncepts are prese nt ed in detai l in Sections 2.7 Wid 2.8, where seve ral methods are presented that can handle most cases of \'ariab h:: inriltration an d
variable rain fa ll intensity. The con tri butions also depe nd on the lellel of IOU
moisture slonlgc SD 1'5. neld capltdty F of th e soil, wh ich is defined as the
amo unt of water held in place afte r exc~ gravita tional wat er hllS drained.
No O\'crland runo ff occu rs for th e case i < f. sine.:: all rainfall infil
trates, and intcrnow and ground water now are zero if F < So, since soil
llIoist ure stoT<lge exists and can han dle addi tio nal innows. In this first cas.;:,
no measurable hydrograph is produL"ed. and all ra infall infiltrates as in the
CllSC of a sma ll rainfall under veT")' dry soil conditi ons.
Howevcr.t he elCt reme case where bot h i > rand F > SI) is typical of
a lar~e storm evc nt in which direct surface ru nofr. intc rnow, a nd base now
all co ntribu te to the hydrograph. ln this case. the in te nsity of rai nfall domi
nates the ~yst e m , and large quan tities of ove rland now and channel now are
produced. Channel precipitation is usuall y a very smfl ll frac tion of tOlal now
rale and is usua lly negkcted in practice. In urba n <ITCas. the infi ltl1l tion com
ponent may be minor where COllcrete surf:lces and channels dominate the
response. In Illore fores ted and nat ural watcr:sheds, infi ltration amJ surface
roughness may be major factors and significa ntly al ter the hydrograph.
Infiltration is one of the most Ct"lmplcx of hydrologic phenomena. Horton (1933) showed that when the rainfall rate i exceeds the infiltrat ion rat e
f, wa te r infi ltra tes the surface soils at 11 rate that gene rally decrell~CIl wit h
time (Fig. 1-28). These:: ro tes arc usually reported in inches pe r hour. For any
gi\'cn soil. a limit ing CUT\'e defin es the maximum pos:>ible ratCll of infiltrat ion
vs. tinlc. The ra te of infi lt rat ion depe nds in a complex way on rai nfall intensity. soil type. surfae.:: co ud ition. llt1d veget,,1 cove r. S.. nd will ge nerally infiltr ate III much greate r rates t han silt or clay. Infiltration from II large basin
can represe nt as much as 25% to 30% o f rnintall. but usuall y is in the 5% to
15% range.
'Ibe IP index is the simples t infilt rat io n me thod and is ca lcu lated by
fi ndi ng the loss difference betwee n gross precipita tion and obscT\'ed surface
runoff measu red as a hyd rograp h. The q, index mcthod assumes that the loss

51

"

Chopler 1

Horton in filt,.rio"

".,
Figur. 1-28
Wihfolion Ion curves ulttd ~ find roinlal1 e~ce~. Horton 's infiltration cvrve and
the phi index with in itiollon 10. depreuioo OOI"oge.

is uni form ly distributed across th~ ra infall pa tt ern (Fig. 1-28). Sometimes
the method is modified to incl ude II greale r ini tial loss or abstr act ion follOwed by 8 conSlanl loss for the event. The usc of <b index methods [or infiltrat ion is illustrated in Example 2-11.
Recession ond Base Flow Separation

II is gene rally customary 10 col1sidcr the hydrograph to be divided inlo only

twO pans: dire<:t runoff (DRO) and base fl ow (S F), as sho ....'lI ill Figures 1-26
and 1- 27. ORO may include some inlcrflow. wherca$ base flow is considered
to be mostly from contributing ground water. I n IIIOS! urban streams, base
flow will be 8 relative ly small componenl, usually less Ihan a few percent,
while it can be a signi fican t component in a la rge ri lle r basin.
Sellcraltechniques exist 10 separate DRO frum base flow based on the
analysis of ground waler rC(;es.~ion CUflles. In many cases, the rel"t:ssion CUTlle
clln be described by an exponen tial depletion equation or the general rorm
(1 - 14)

where
qo

q,
k

-=
=-=

specified initia l discharge,

discharge at II later lime I.
recessio n CO nstant.

Equlltions of this form nre used oh en in engineeri ng to descri be firstorder

decllY or deple tion. Equation ( 1-14) will plot as a straight -line depl etion
cu rve on semilogarithmic paper, ami th e diffe rence between this curve and

Hydrologic Principles
the total hydrograp h plotted on the same rmpe r represen ts the ORO. Several
storms should be used in order to de,-dop a ma5ter depletion curve (McCue n. 2005). In practi~e. the re arc three si mpler methods for han dling base
flow separatiO Il. The base flow recess ion CHn be extended forward under
the peak of the hydrogra ph. slIlfIing wi th th e point of lowest disc hnrge and
then exte nd ing at constant discharge 10 a puin t on the recession limb (A D in
fig. 1- 27) . The inflec tio n point on the recession is assumed to be th e poi nt
where the O RO ends. A second me thod is thc concave met hod. where base
flow is extended unde r the peak of the hyd rograph and then is con nected to
the inflection point on the rccl'Ssion curve (ABC) . Figure 1- 27 sho","S 11'.'0
of the aoo"e methods. Com puterized mcthods for base flow sepa ration are
also avai lable (Sloto and Cro uSl.:. 19(6).
The se paration methods all suffer the disadvantage of being arbitrary
and somewhat inaccura te. At prese nt. bas<:: flow separatioo is more an art
tha n II science. In many cases of practical inte rest such as urban dminage.
base flow is often neglected because it represen ts such a sma ll compo ne nt.
Base flow is usuall y more important in nlll ural stre:lrns and large river~
be~au.'\C of the ~on lrib ution along the banks from a water table.

Net SkInn Rainfal and the Hydrvgroph

SUrfllCe runoff phenomena hav e been discussed above. and th e distrib ution
of gross rain fall ca n be divided into co mponen ts of infil trat ion. de pression
storage, deten tion Storage. and dire!;t runoff. We Coln write the continui ty
equa tioll for this procc:>s as
gross rainfa ll - depression Storage + e" aporation + infi lt rlltion
+ surface ronoff.
whe re dete nt ion storage is included as eventual surfnce run off. In cases
where dep ression storage is small and evaporation can be neglected. one
can wm pule ra infall excess. which equals direct runoff. DRO. by
rainfa ll excess ( P,,) "" ORO
- gross rai nfall - (inliltration + depressio n storage).
It is often important to determi ne the time distribution for ra infa ll
excess. P~. Generally. th e simpler methods employed to determine ra infall
excess illcl ude the Horton infih nlli on method and the '" index met hod. with
initial loss includ ed for depressiO Il storage. as shown in Figurc 1- 28. Loss
vo lumes can be de ter mined by comparing lOlal ra infall and hyd rograph volumes using "arious inlilt ratioo equa tions (i.e .. comp ute in.lhr over the water shed area). as described in detail in Exa mpl e 1.6. The Horton method
estima tes infil tration wilh an exponen tial- type equa tion that slowly declines
in time as rainfall cont in ues: the'" index inlil tratio n met hods is based on a
constan t rale in inJh r through the rain fa ll pe riod. In practice. the loss-rate
coefficients are difficult to estimate. and the simpler o;!> index method is often

53

Chopter I
used. probably because of th e lack or da ta on infiltra tioo distribution in lime.
Note that the 0/> index tends to unde res timate losses at the begi nni ng of the
Slorm and overestimatc losses alt he end. More adv anced illfihration methods (Grecn and Ampl.19 11 ; Mcln and La rron, 1973) can also be employed
whe re detailed soils data an d hydra ulic conditions are avai lable. as dcscribed
in Chapter 2.

NET STORM RAINfAll

Rain fa lls HS shown in Ihe rainfull hyetogrnp h (i nt ensity vs. ti me) in Figu re
EI-{ia. The 4> index for the slorm is 0.5 inJhr and isconstanl ove r 5 hr. Plot
Ihe net rainfa ll on the hydrograph (now \'S. lime) gi\'en in Figure EI-6i1.
Determine the tolal volu me of runoff und the wllle rshed area.

,.,
Z
..,
""
,.,
'"
"''00"
(ffl -

-.:-

2.0

~_
l~
_ 1.0

't-

... 0.5

h
2

"

Tune (hr)

"

""

Time (hr)

Figure El-6a
Roinfoll hyelogroph and hydrogroph.
SOlUTION

First we develop the net filinrall hyclOgro ph show n in Figure El -6b. Then,
we add Ihis \0 the hydrograph plot in Ihe uppe r left com er of Figure EI-&.
Note thllt the rai nf.11I excess becomes 3.5 inches to\a l wi th a durat ion o f
4 hr. since ra infall equals infilt ra tion during the filia l ho ur of rai nfll ii.

,.,";~'C(;T"-'"C'C)- - - -""
isoo
"'"

ll>

"
.~ 0.3
"

....

",..,

Ii

, , , ,

Ti ...... (hT)

Figure E1-6b
Ne!

- - .,

"'infoll hyetogroph.

200

'00

o<-~"<CL7>"+.cc~'c'~.LJ
4
8
12 16 20 N
Ttrn~

(hr)

Figure EI-6c
f ino! hydrogropll plotted wirh

neI

<oinloll.

Hydrologic PrincipleJ

The yolume of runoff is equal 10 the area under the hydrograph. To

determine Ihe volume of run off. we can usc l:Qcll. This estimlltcs the
volume as the bar graph shown in Figure 1:1-&1. Calculations are tabulated in the accompan)~ng ta ble.

r_ ...

QI<f>I

<>-2
2-<

100
300
'00
700

...
.-0

v..... (cfs--hr)
200
600

1000
"00
>300
1200
1000
800

65.

8-10
10-12
12_14
14-16
16<-18
18-20
20-22
22_24
24-26

600

"'.00"
300
200
15<1
100

!Ocll B 9100 cf,..Iy

600

.00
300
200
100

"

_9028,..... 01 di<l ....... (t ............. - l003c1t-hr!

_ 3.41 inct-<>YW . . ~ G..... 012600 ""... ,

,-

700

,.,
"" ""
'"'
c;

JlKI -

200
,.7

,,

, , ,

-,
,,
,

16
"TIme (Il,)
'" "

Figure El-6d

Estimation 01 rvnoff volvme l:QdI relvlling bar graph.

55

s.

Chapter 1

O ther methods thai could be used wit h Figure El--6d incl ude mathematical methods of integrati on, such as the trapezoidal rule and Simpson's

rule. Bolh methods a pp rox i m~l c the area unde r Ihe gra ph hyd rograp h
between two values of timc. If base flow were included in tht' hydrogroph ,
we would have 10 subt ract il fi n;1 from the flow val ues 31 ClIc h lime step
be fore computing vo lumes of direct ru noff.

Once ra infall excess has been determined for a wate rshed. il then
becomes II central proble m of engineering hydrology to conve rt it int u direct
runo ff. ORO. The resu lting hydrograph is basicall y built up from contributions of ove rl alld flo w and c/lan ucl flow a rriving 111 d ifferen t limes fro m all
points in the wille rshed. T he re lat ive limes of travel of overland and ch unn el
now are related to lhe size of the wfl te l'$hed; ove rland now time is more
significan t in a small wate rshed. whe reas lime of Irnve l in the channel pre domilll!tes in It large watel'$hed.
A number of invcsti ga tors have attempted to develop rainfall- runoff
rela tionsh ips that could apply to any region or wate~ed under any SCI of
<.X)nditiollS. The Soil Conse rvation Service (SCS. 1964, 1986) presented a useful
sc t of ra infull- ru noff curves thaI abo include land cove r. soil lype. and initial
1000000(abstracti on) in determiningdircct runoff (Section 2.3). A number of unit
hyd rograph methods arc presen ted in C hapte r 2, and Snyder's mcthod. theTC
& R me thod, and the SCS mel hodsarc most often usc:d based on their simplicity and reh!l ive accuracy under a variely of watershed conditions.

I.'

HYOROlOGK

MEASUREMENT

Hydrologic processes vary in space and lime, an d nccurate measu rement

req uires the usc of sophisticated instru ments, which arc us ually at a fi;c:ed
location in space. The resulting data from rain fall, evaporat ion. or stren mnow levels measured over tillle crea te a li me series. wh ich Il1 ll y be furt her
anal)"ed stat istically. Th e 0\'er311 sequence of steps for hyd rologic mellsurement incl udes
1. Sensing, whic h transfo rms the inte nsity of the prQct:SS in to a mea~u rah le signal:
2. Reco rding, usually in clec.:tronic form;
3. Tran~mini ng tn a ce ntral processing site ~ia telemet ry:
4. T ransla ting, which convens Lhe record into 3 data scq uencc;
s. Editi ng. or chec.:king for any errors in Ihe data;
6. Sloring. in u compu ter dlltabase fn r viewi ng;
7. Retrieving the data for furlher usc.
The advent of advnn ced te le met ry, radar systems. tue of the Internet, and
use of large uatabase ~ t orage devices has revoluLio ni7.ed hydro logic information storage. reLrieval. anu dislribut ion. A number of useful websites oflen
used in hydrology for rainfall an d strea mnow data arc listed in Appendix E.

Hydrologic
Almo~pheric

Prir.cipl",~

PororMhln ond Prec:ipilolion

'Ibe measu reme nt of atmospheric moisture ncar the grou nd often ut iliz~s a
climate Slation. which usually consists of n psychrome ter (or hygromctcr) to
meas ure humi dity, il rai nfall gagc. an evaporation pan. and an anemomete r
for wind speed and di rection. TOlal incom ing or outgoing rad iation can be
measured with a radiome ter. Weathe r balloons are used to measure temperalUTC_ humidity. air pressu re. and wind speed at various elevations nbove
the eart h.
T he fundamental instrument for meas uring atmospheric pressuTC is the
mercurial blll"omder, which is cons tmcted by filling a long glass tube with
mercury. The baromete r acts as a weigh ing balance. and chan ge5 in atmo _
sphe ric pressure arc detected from changes in the heigh t of the eollmm of
mercury. The p-'1'chrometer is an instru me nt based on tem pera ture differ ences be twcen two th ermometers. one of which is CO I'e red in a wet cloth.
called the wet bulb. T he diffe rence in temperature of Ihe dry and weI bul bs.
whe n ven tilated. is a measure of degree of S3Iurat ion of the air. wh ich is a
measure of re lative humid ity.
Pre<:i pila tion or fninfa ll is measured at a point with either non-recording
or recording gages. lbc non-recording gage consists of a simple open tube
wit h readings along the side fo r vis uall y detc rmini ng rainfall amoun ts.
Recordi ng gages ar~ required in urban settings for flood con tro l studieS if thc
time distribution of rai nfa ll is desired. The tipping bucket reco rd ing gage
opera tes off a pair of small buckets (Fig. 1- 14a). which rno,",c ill a nip-flop
motion and ma ke elcctrical conwC1 for every incremenl of rai nfall. The buckets direct water into u reservoir. whi ch ca n be chec ked for cum ulative totals
at the e nd of a storm cvent. The gage usually records every 0.01 in. or 0. 1 in.
of rain and telemeters this to a cen tral compute r for storage and analysis.
Rlldar (radio detection and ranging) has been used 10 measure rai nfall
rat es 0 11 th e grou nd ~i n ce 1994. and G IS met hod s have grea tly improved our
ab ili ty to determ ine rainfall rates for specific watcnohed areas. Chnpter 11
prcscn ts mo re detai ls.
Evoporotion orKI Wiltnrlion losJeJ

Evaporation is the process by which wa ler in its liqu id or solid state is transformed in to water vapor, which mixes wit h Ihe at mosp here. EVllpotranspiradon (ED is considered separa tely as the combin ed loss of wat er va por
from th e surface of plants (transpiration) and thc evaporation of moisture
from soi l. Knowledge of evaporatio n processes is importanl in prcdicting
wa ter losses to evaporation from a lake o r resenoir. On ave rage. app roximately 70% oflhe mean annual minfall in the Un ited Stales is returned to
the atmo~phe re as evapora ti on o r tran spirat ion. H(,)wever. varia tions in
evaporation across the continent ca n be ve ry large due to effects of solar
inp ut. location of mo untai ns. and proximity to oceans. On all ann ual basis.
evapo ration rates can exceed mean ann ua l Tai nfall. especiall y ill arid regions

51

58

Chopter ,

of the soulh~'csl. For example. arid areas in Texas. Arizona, New Mexico.
Ne,'ada, and southern California enn exceed 70 inches per year. tOluparcd
\0 about

30 10 4D inches per year for much of the rest of the coun n)'. For

the case of evaporation from a lake surface, wate r loss is n function of solar
rad iation, temperature of the water and air, difference in vapor pressu re
betwee n waler and the overlying air, and wind speed nCTOOS the lake.
Evaporation is important in the long-term wate r balance and is usually
of oollct!rn for large-scale waler resources plann ing and wHler supply studies,
especially in the Western Siaies whe re evaporation rates can exceed rai nfall
rales. During Iypical stann periods. wilh intensities oro.s in ./hr, evaporation
is on the order ofO.Ot inlhr and is normally neglected for nood now studies
and urb:lII drainage de sign appl iea tiolls.
Measurement of evapom tion is usually from a Mflndard class A pan
(Fig. 1-29), which is filled to 8 in. and then observed on a dail y basis. Adjustments are made for rainfall input usi ng a rainfall gage nea rby_ Me thods to
compute and measure evaporation and cynpommspiration arc covered in
detail in Section 2.6. EYltl'oration and ET nrc vcry difficu lt 10 measure accurately for large watersheds.
InfiltnitioD. or movemen t of water from the surface inlo Ihe soil zone,
ca n be measured with n ring infi hrometer, which is a ring abouI2 ft in diam
eter driven into the soil. Water is plllCCd in The ring. and the rnle of infiltralion,[ is me asured by the dro p in wal er le\cl over Time. Carefully controll ed
experimcnts req uire the use of tcnsiomeTers 10 measure capillary suction
wit h depth, electrical resistance 10 record mo isture content, an d wells to
record th e response at the water lable below. Infilt ration is one of the moot
difficult hydrologic pHTa meler~ to measure because of lhe extreme V:tTi" lions
in soil and water condi tions, which can grea tly affcct lhe measured ratc. In
actual watersheds, infiltration is often det ermined b)' the diffe rence between
gross rai nfall and direct runoff meas ured rrom a hyd rogrllph. Both simple
and advanced infil tration met hods are presented in Sections 2.7 and 2.8.

G"l vln;~d
~.-apo

i,o>n

.... c;,,"

_ __ D _ _ __

figure 1-29
Stcndord dau A evoporo~OI1 pon with cup anemomelef and rain gOg8.

Hydrologic Princ iples

SlreamOow is ge nt rally measured by obser\'ing siage. or elevat io n nbove a

specified elevation datum (i.e .. mean sea level). in a channel and then re l,lting stage 10 discharge \'ia a rat ing curve. A stnff gage is a fixed scale se t so
thM a portion is immersed in wat er and can be read man uall y during storm
passage. A wirc-wtight gage is lowered from a bridge structure to th e wate r
surface. and readi ngs arc taken as a function of time through a storm everll.
A crest stage gage uses a small amoun t of cork inside an eoclosed starr gage.
The cork floats as the wale r rises and ad heres to the sclile reeordi ng /It the
highest water level.
MoS! nUlornatic rCl"Qrd ing gages. such as those u~ed by the USGS for
rOUline st~am now monitoring, use a noat-type device to me llSUfe stage or a
gas bubbler to measure pressure (Fig. 1-3Oa). The bubble gage senses water
level by main taining a continuOllSstream of g.1S in a small pipe unlkr the water.
Anothe r approach is 10 use 11 pressure transduce r near the bottom of a st ream
Ihal St:nses the pressure or height of watcr that sils abovc the mon itor. In so me
urban basins. hyd rol ogic data arc often tr.lIIsmiltcd ove r telephone lines or
Ihrough telemelry di rectly into computcrs. Acoustic Dop pler now meters
(ADFM) han! recently cmerged as a new method to accurately measure now
fMe by measu ring the 3C1u~ 1 ve locity profil e in a pipe or open chann el.
(b) Ga. bubble.

(;as C)'lin<.kr
Man"""'le,

a",.mbty

0,21)

(;.s pip;:

.w
D

F'.gure 1-300
Typicol USGS .lrotomAow goges wilh
go. bubbler 10 moo.ore p<enl1fe (bJ.

G.. kepI ar

co~SI."r

flu'"

fIoo~ dorvi<:.e 10 meow.c .Ioge (0) Of

"

60

Choptef 1

COEfGIl

0.2D
O.6D

f;gur.

I-lOb

Slfeom -=tion divided 10 lind totol disc.:horge. Eoch !.Klion area is multiplied by the
ov.roge velocity wirhin !hot section and Iflflfl summed up 10 yield loki! dlsc;harge.

Selt:ction of a sile for sueam gaging must include consideration of

access, chan nel controls where flow rate a nd dep th a rc rela ted, and seasonal

changes in vege tation. Most USGS sites have been carefully selected to
incorporate access factors.
O nce /I stream station has bee n established . usually 81 II bridge

crossing.

II

rating CUfve can be developed between stllge and discharge

by actu a lly measuring veloci ty in th e c han nel ill a n umber of diffe ren t
siages wil h a cu rrent me ter. The curren t meier is suspended from II bridge
or held by 1\ rod in sha llow water and reco rds ve locity acco rding to the

ro tational speed of the propeller. The recommended procedure for determining mean velocity is to take measures at 0.20 and 0.80 (down (rom
the surface). whero': D is slTeam dept h, and average the two val ues (see
Fig. I-30b).
T he total d ischarge is fou nd by d ividi ng the cha nnel into several
sections, as shown in Figure I-JOb. The average velocity of each seclion
is multiplied by its associated area (width times depth of section), a nd
these arc summed ac ross the channel to yield total discharge Q corresponding to a particular stage l, obtaining one point on the grap h in Figure 1-31. Other points are obtai ned by measuri ng velocity at differen t
stages in the stream. Raling curves can change through time, as Willersheds chnnge in terms or land use nnd chan nel type, and should be
rechecked periodically.
It will be shown in Chapter 4 that actual rating curves can be looped
because or slOrage and hydraulic effects in the channel. a nd the singlevalued rating curve is at best an lI ppro~ i mati on to thc ac tual relationship
(sec Fig. 4-14). A more de tailed discLlssion of sTreamflow predictio n and
measurement is contained in Cha pter 4.

Hydrologic Principles

.,

Figure 1-31

Roling curve. A roting CUf~t! i~ obloined for 0 porliculo,

cross se<:tion by fi nding the 10101 Q 01 a porticulor ~toge z.
The other points a r t! obtoined by find ing different ...~oci ti~
to ohloin Q 0 1 differen t ~oge~. TheStl ca n change as watef'
sheds change due 10 Iond u'" a nd chanr>d !ype5.

Q,

Conve ntional strea m gaging d cpcmJs on a collec tio n of stage meHsu remen ts a nd occasional curren t-meter discha rge nu:asu,.:men ts upstre am
of a n o pen-cha nne l con tro l in a strea m o r rive r. The USGS has more tha n
10.000 conve nti onal gagin g systems in opcratiOIl. and its websi te is listed
in A ppend ix E . However. for urban gaging sit uations. whe re the ra nge in
stage is not excessive. spec ial ized gag ing sys tems ha ve bee n developed.
Fig ure 1- 32 s hows a typi Ca l urban hyd rol ogy gaging sys te m be;l)g use d in
II cuncrete lined u rban st ream in Texas. This type of stre:lrn is of le n com
posed of :l slage reco rding mecha nism (bubbler type ). a recordi ng ra in
gage. a crest sta ge gage indicator. and two independent s taff gages. T hc
gag ing sys te m is e qui pped with two a ut omatic dig ita l recorders. o ne for
stage Hod one for rainfall. with d~t a recorded a nd sto red at appro..:;mllte ly
5-min in tervals. Th e s tation is equipped with telem e try for radio signalS
back to a base station o r com pult.' r.

Figu ... 1-32

U.S. Geologicol Suryey ,I'eam goge

~loIkln

with telemetry.

62

Chopler 1

Flood Alert Syshlms

In re cent years, wi lh the advent of software for pe rsonal compu te rs lind
ad vanced electronic transmitters, hydrologists h:lVe designed nood alen sys-

tems to coliect. tra nsmit. and anaJ)'1.c data from remo te gages in

II

large

watershed. The Hurris County Office of Emerge ncy Managemellt (HCOEM)

near I-I o uston, T exas, has imp le mented such II sySte m from Sierra Misco, lnc.

(1986), and many olhers are in existence around the Uni ted Stllies. The
re mo te sialions can provide radio signals fo r both rainfall and streamflo w
gaged da ta on II real -lime basis during the passa ge of II large stonn eyent.

T he data are sent directly 10 II base station. where the analog signals are
conve rt ed to digital for computer storage and mUl lysis. If the incoming data
arc from II remote location, repeate r an tennae are used to inte rce pt the
remote signal an d send il 10 the base stat ion.
Figu re 1-33 shows dala f1o\O, thro ugh a Iypical flood alert system on
a rea l time basis. Th e Texas Medic;!1 Ce nter in Houston has imp le mented

Flood Alert System (FAS2)

QP!.:

Itain
G"~....

Distributed Parameter
Rainfall I Runon
Ana lYJis (VnnT"')

""'"

Pnl-Iecll"n

&.: .,"",," ,,'.

Acllons
'Flood doo r cl /)~u re
' [ ,,cIIHI HlM

11....,.11 of Pers-ou,.[
'/lackup P"""tr
u e,

RicefTMC

Alert Level

1.lund

.n

P.~r

.:....U
'Phuu

Flood Protec tion

Fig,",", 1-33

Typicol RAOAR-bo,ed Rood oleft

~y~!em.

.3

Hydrologic Pri ncipb

II un ique flood ale rt system (FAS3) to provide flood inrorma tion to the
m'er 22 hosp it als localed in the Brays Bayou wa lershed (Bedien t et a L
2003.2007). 'Ibis system allows eme rge",."Y veh icles and pcrsonncllO betler
plan for th e unexpec te d du ring a I~rse storm eve nt over the watershed.
The FAS2 rel ics on NEX RA D d ata 10 esti mal e rain fa ll int e nsities and
eu mulalive amounl S over 3 lOOsq-mi waters he d in sou thwe st HOU510n.
More detai ls o n FAS3 a rc provi de d in Chnp te rs II an d 12. where NEXRAD
radar-rai nfall lInd hydrologic models a re presented in more d etail in Fang
et al.. 20\1.

Chapter I has covered Ihe basic prind ples of hydrology. includin g Ihe Water bal
ance. wealh er systems. precipitatiun. strell m(i o,,'. simp le hydrogmph unalysis,
hydrolol,l: ie lossu. nnd hydrologic meas urement Sola r radilltion and atmosphtric
water phase changes provick the ma in e ne rllY inputs. and rn ult in the generation
of pr~ipitation . Once rain falls 10 Ihe eaTlh. il can infilt ra le in to Ihe soil system.
percolale 10 deepe r ground water, evaporate back to Ihe atmosphere. Or gen erate runoff to the nea re St stream or n~e r. 0'-c,,11 "'aler ba lance is mamtained
thro ugh Ihe vario us siorage mechan ism! wllh in the h\'drologic cycle. li nd de tailed
exam ples are provided. The ocea n is the ull im~te r~Cepl() r of surface flow from
rivers and channels. and pro"ides th e main source of waler for ev~purat ion back
to Ihe atm(}~ pherc .
The allllosphere is the major hydrolo@le li nk octw;:en oceans :md continents
on the planet. facililannl! tile cyele of movement of ,,'ater on carth. T he h)drologic
cycle is la rgely shaped by the cond,t;onsof Ihe almMf>here. with pn.~;vitallon as Ihe
main input when Ihe atmosphe ric condillons arc unslable. Solar radiation. general
circu lation. "'ind syslems. moisture SOUftt. WilleT "allOT con lent. and lifting mechanisms are all cO"e rcel in Ihe chapler. As moist air nses. phase cha nge from vapor
10 liquid wilh rclem;e of latent henl is un importa nl driver supplying atmospheric
energy. Major th undcrsturms and hurricanes arc the result of un stahl e ~t mosphercs
and slTong yc ni c,11 movements. and product nmjor ra in full and da magi ng winds
and torn adoc~.
The concepl of Ihc watershed. a hasln area that dr~ins 10 a single oUl le l.
as Ihe bastc hydro logic unit is defi ned with uamp~s. Watershed response from
a giwn rainfall depends on Slle. shape. slopt.'. soils, storage. Bnd lan d use wilhin
the area. Th e ~ctual respons.. is oflen pJoUed a1 a h)'drograph of flow rate Q ~s.
lime I. Prce;p; t~lion input is the main drive r of the hydrotogi c cycl e. as it rdales to
r i ~cr flow. waler ~u ppty. flood ing. agricu!tur~1 and urban dmin ngc. lInd r<:ch arg~
to ground w~tcr .
Simple hydrogm ph an~ ly,is. the cQnl'euioo of rainfall into lunuff o~erland
or ill a "'ream, is covered," Clta pler L ~nd <:_~ I'anded wit h the un;1 hydrograph in
Cha pter 2. Yuint , areal. design. and rad~r-ba"",d rainfalls are descritw:d '" !lome delail "'i in ptJt 10 Ihe creal;on of the hydrograph from a w~lerslK."d area. Precipilalion.
from ga~es or roda r. and streamflow CIOn be direct ly measured by mCl hod!; detailed
on Sectio" 1.8,

SUMMARY

Choptef 1

64
CONCEPT

CHECK

L 1. What is the lIydrologic cycle? Wh at are t he pathways Ihat precipitation

OIllO Ihe land surface of th" earth is dispe~d \0 Ihe hydrologic cycle?

f~lIing

1.2.. Whois responsible for Ihe firsl .o.ded rainfall mellsure ments? Describe the
technique: u!;Cd \0 obtain these measu rements..

1.3.

E~plain

Ihe differe nce between hum idit y and .elaliy.: hu midit}'.

1.4. Explain how air masses are daSloificd. Where aTe th ese types of air masses
loc ated?
1.5. List seven major faclors that determine II watershed's response 10 II give n
rainfa ll .

PROBLEMS

1.6. A lake wilh Ii su rface area of 1050 acres was monitored ",'cr a period of time .
Ouringa one-month pe riod.lhe ;,,00w"""533 cfs. the outflow was rJ ds. and II
I.S-in. seepage loss ,"'as mea~uTCd, During Ihe SlIme month . lhe lotal preeipita
lion was 4~ in. E\'a poration loss "'"as c.; limated as 6.0 in. &nimate thestOl'llge
change for this lake during the month.
1.7. Clear Lake h:ls II surface area of ~.OOO m2 (70.8ha). For a given month. the
I~kc has an iu flow of I.S m3!s and an out flow of 1.2.'5 m3!s. A +I.O-m slOrage
change or increase in lake level ",as rc.:ordcd. If a precipitation gage rcoorded
a total of24 em for this month, determine the c"aporation loss (in em) for the
lake. Assume that ilCC page loss is negligible.
lJl. In a gi\'Cn month . a w~tersllcd ",.. ith an area of 1500 ml Tcc.:ived 100 em of
prccipitation. I)uring the same mon1h . the 10I'>'i due 10 evaporation wa~ IS cm.
Ignore losses due to transpira tion and infi llfltt ion due 10 groun d walc r. Wh al
wou ld be the average rate of now mea5ured in a gage al the oUllet of lile WDtenihcd in m'/ day1
1.9. In a gi"c n year. I watershed with an area. of 2S(Xl km1 received 130 em of
precipitanon . The average rate offlow measured in a gage al the ollt let of tile
watershed wRs30 ml/sec. Estima te the Water lossesduc to th" oombinedeffec1s
of cvaporotion. Iran "Piralion. and infilt ration due to gruu nd walcr. How much
,,-morf rcached the ri\'Cf for the year (in cm)?
1. 10. Using the data from problem 1.9. what is the runoff coeffICIent?

0""') M a gr1lph (t, VII. 7) for a range of IcmperBlures from

- 3O"C 10 4QOC lind 3 range of pressures from 0 to 7Q mb. The area below the

1.1 1. Plot Equation

curve reprc~nts the unsaturated air oond'tion. U$tng this graph. answcr Ihe
following:
(a) Select IWO snt umted and two un5<lturated samples of air from the da la1lCt
of pressure and U:mpcr1llUre given below:
Pressure (mb): 110. 20. 301
TempeT'~tllre

(0C): {1O. 20. 301

Hydr ologic !>rinciples

(b) Lei A and B be IWO air soamplcs. I'here A: (T - JWC. P = 25 mb) and
8 : ( T - 3O"C. " = 30 mb). For eac h \ample. determine Ihe foli ol" ing:
(i)

Sa luralion vapor prc$Sure

(ii) Dew po int

(iii) Relative humidily

(r.:) Suppose both sampl~ A and B wert cooled 10 IS-e. What would be their
rel:uh'e kum irlil Y? Whal wuuld be their dew POlOt te rnpc:r8rure?
1.12. 11Ic gas const ant 11. has the ,."Ioe 2.S? X 10'" em 2h 2 oK for dry air. when pres
~Ure ill in mb. U~ing rhe Ideal gas law (P '" pR n . rond lhe density 0( dry air
al 2S"C wi lh 8 pr~ure of 1050 mb. Find Ihe density of moisl wir al the same
pressure and t e m~ralurc if Ihe re lative humidiry is 65%.
1.13. AI a we :lther sMlion. Ihe air press ure was measured 10 be 101.1 kPa. Ihe ai r
lempcrOt ur~ wItS 22e. and the dew poinllemperalure was 1S"e. Ca1cu l~t e
t he corresponding "apor prel;ure. rela li"e humidity. spccirlC hum ldllY. and
air density. First compute e and

t,.

1.14. Wh al are the three main mechanl$D1s for ge nera tion of venicll i llir motion?

1.1.5. rRscribc Ihe naming system fur dc$cribing basic clouds.

1.16. Uelow ~rc three di ffe rent atmospheric 5ySte mS. The dashed line represenls Ihe
dry "di ~ bMic lapse rale where ~s the :<olid li ne represenls th e dry I,mbienllapse
ml e. Labcl whe.her {he atmUliphere is stable. unstable. or ncutra l:
(b j

(oj

,''''' ,,

,,

."i!'

'''''

,,
,

'"

Th m,

Id)

('j

,,
,,
,,
,,

"""----,

o ~"'~-"--;"'~

,,

'''''

,,

,,
,,
o '-7,----":;-'
50
60
Thm,

1.17. Hurricane Katri na was lhe rIlOl!it devastating hurricane in U.S. history. Refer to
hltp:lIY.....'W.hpc.nce p.noaa.gov/. Find lhe Information concerning tOlal rain fall
during Hurricane Kalri na . and an$wer Ihe followmg quest ion s:

(a) What catecury

~"ent

was Hu rricHnc Kat rina wh(,11 II made

l~ ndfa1l1

(b) Wh ich Slal e e 'pericnced Ill e mus t cumu lative ruinfJIl during Hurricane
KRlrin a?
(c) Whal was tile lowcst cent ra l prcssure recorded duri ng the hUlricllflC?
(d) Whal ronalt), ha ired Ihe pat h of the hu rneane ?
I.U! A walershed of 465 ar.: wi th ~ix ra infall gages cm be dIVIded inlO Tlliesscn
pooIygonJ wllh Ihe lisled data in Ihe accompa n)'ing table . Using lhe (otal stonn
rainfall deplhJ I;';{cd . find lhe H~el1lge r~infa U o\'er Ihe I" alcrshed lD ac_ft.

,,

,,

,,
,,

o "",~--"-;!",~
Temp

Chapler 1
Gogo

Rainfol ron.)

""" 10<1

2.2<>

90

"

322
0.71

2.49

0.88
6 .72

17
89

'"30

1.19. A small m ba n watershed has four rainfall gages as Ioemed in Figure PI-19.
TOIB] rainfall recorded al each gage during II storm event is listed in the tab!.::
below. Compule Ihe mean areal rain fa ll for this Siorm IIsing (II) arithmetic
a.'craging and (b) the Th ier.sc n mc:th ud.
figure PI-19
Four roinloll g Og8S

watershed
boundary.

with

Gog.

RoinlaU
fon.)

3.26
2.92

3.01

305

l.le. Mud Cree k has the watershed boundaries shown in Figure 1'1- 20. There are
si~ ra in gages in and near the wa tershed, and the amount of rainfall III each
one during II 1I0rm is gi'"c n in lhe accompanyi ng ,able. Using the Thie~n
mei llod and a scale of I in. - 10 mi. dc \crmine the mea n rain fall of the given
storm.

HydroloQ:>C

Pril'K:iple~

6.

Fig_ Pl-20
Six roinfoll g09"5
with wolenhed
boundary.

,.

,.

..
,
EOm,

""",

67

Rainlal

Nvrnboor

(em)

,,
,,

.,"
'0
62

70

"

1.21. Table 1'I -l I ItSIS ra in fall data recorded 31 0 USGS gage forlhc

lembcr 1. 1999. The bMin ~ rc~ is 2OSO :lcrcs. Using these d~la.

~lorrn

ofSer
a Tain-

dc~elop

fHII hyclOgraph (i nlhr vs. /) in 15-min inl er-'Hls anti determine the lime period
wllh the hillhcSl inlcnsily ... infuIL

P,ob/elll1 J.11 "",/ 1.13 ute' 10 ,lie I. )'drnlogic dow 1/st'11ill I'roh!o'", 1.1I
1.21. (a) P\Q(11le cumulative 111a~CUtVC for .ai nfall and Ihe hydmyuph (now nole
vs. li'1>c ) on the same graph usmg , ...."{) Kala;,

(b) Compute Ihe "olumc ofinfillrn lion loss forlhes\onn. ncgk":ling ET bysubITS(.1 ing the "olumeof graM nUn /;,1I from the ,'Olu""" lind", t he hydrograph.

Chapter I

l obi. PI-21

"_,
16'05

\0.20
16.35
16:50
17:05
17:20
17:3.5
17:50
18:05
18:20
18:35
18:50
19:05

Accumulated

[);KIIar~

,,.

;h'

19

1110

RaiMoll [In,J

"

,.,.,,
' .3

,,

."

"'"

1380
1350

'280
11 10

'90

<0'

30'

19'20

'"

1935

J5

19.50

20:05
20:20
20:35
20:50
1..2J. Wha1 is Ihe roooff ~fficiem for lite S<-plember 1,

"

JO

",
,

]9')1}.

storm. where Coe(f.

.. RIP'!
1.24, The followlllgq uc$lions refer 10 Figure 1-15. the IDF curve for Housloo. T cl(3S.
(~ )

Wh at

i~

Ihe rcl uro period of n storm Iha! recorded 3.1 in.!hr for 2 Itr in

H ouslOo?

(b) What amount of rain (in.) ...oold have to rau in a 6- hr lJeriod \0 be tonsid " Tcd M]()()..)'Tslorm in HousIOn7

(c) What is the return period of a stonn Ih31 18515 I he and records 35 in. of
r" infall?
(d)

Dcvelop~ nd plol a6-hr. l00.yrslOrm design rainfl.1I u.ing l_hrtimc SIC", (Ii
Fig. \-8). Mume the ma~imum hourly value occurs between hou~ 3 and 4.

(i)

Fi nd the ... inraU intensi ty [or a \-hT duratmn and pIo\the rainfall
intensity in inlhr bet ..... ~ n Ihe hours of 3 lind 4 on a bar graph.

(ii) Then. find the rainfall intemity for a 2lIr duration; mu lt ipl) the in
te nsity by the duratitln of rain to get tile vo lume. Plot the di ff~rence
between tile 2lIr dura tion volu me lind the lh r dura tion ~olu mc for
hour 2 10 3 on II bar gmpll.
(iii) Continue in th~ same wa) for the 3lIr duration. plou ing the IK'W
inlensity 10 the right of 11M: maximum (hour bet""ee n 4-5). (find the:
3hr volume lind sublraci the: 2lIr 'olu",(:.)

Hydrologic Priociple5
(iv) Theil. find the rainr~1I illlell~il)' (Of a 6-hr duratioo alld Ihe respect " 'C
volume. I'lol the rcmailling "o!umc (6-hr minus 3-h r) over Ihe 3 hr,
aS5uming eq ual d'SlribuliQrl be, ....een Ihem , with I\>O bars 10 Ih e: lefl
and 0I1C 10 the righl of the maximum (lime illtervalsO-l , 1- 2. and 5-6).

1..25. Given Ihe siream II<'clion sho.... n in Figure PI -25 and the following measurcme nlS. calcul ate Ihe 10lal dill<'h3rge throu ghout the sccliun (Ta ble PI - 25).

T..... '1-2.5

..,""

",",."

Meo.ure .... t

Dillu_ Ac""u

"

3B

"

v (ft/-J

,,
J

I)

2.'

'01

0.43
1.,54

'"
'"

1.,52

2 . 3~

..

,,.
'"

,.,
"' .2
""2. ,

"
"."
'"
"2

II

""

"01

MI<on Velocity

Sultion

"",,,.

~
G

"

1.42
1.34
1.23
053

, , ,

FIgUre Pl-25

Divided $Ireom

O.2D
0.6D

''o

"

~"D,alV,
i- I

1.26. AS5ume Ihal 51alioos iJ Ihroug.h L. In Proble m 1-25 ha" c all become 02 (,
deeper. In addilion. llribuu.ry hM;o;ned Ihe stream and added appru~imalcly
500 os to Ihe flow in the channel. Calculate the new di~hargc amou nlS for
each sI3tion by alte ring the dep ths lind adding the trib ut ary's con lribu l;on
across Ihe chan nel in proportIon to the modified discharge distribu tion. Assume velocily d istribu tion relnai llS unchanged.

.-...

69

7.

Chapler 1
I.n. The ;ncremen tal rainfall dala in the table were reCflrded 3t a rainfall gage o n
a ~ma ll u,ban parki ng lot of I Bcre. Be careful to use a 0.5-hr time $ICP and
reoord int ensi ty in emlh .
(a) Plot the ra infall hyclog.raph.
(b) Determill(: the lotal sionn rai nfall depth (inches) .
(c) If 100% of th e rain fall O<;I;urs as rUnQff and the lime base of a triangula r
hyd rOjlraph (now rale ~s, li 'lle ) is 3 hr. find tht peak now of the hyd,f>.
graph in ds. Be careful wilh un its.
Hill': fi". find the ,..,tu mc of rainfall. thcn "'lualc ;. to the aru undcr the
hydrO!.apb.

T. .

Roin"".

~"

(en'l)

0'I..

,.' ,0

10.0

2O
2.'
3.0
3.5
' .0
'.5

12.0
10.0

' .5
3.0
2'
0

t .2&. For the rainfall record provided below, plot cumulatiye rain fa ll (P) and glll5S

rain fall hyelograph (inAl r) usi ng t. 1 - 15 mi n - 0.25 hr .

r~.

.....

,. (in.)
.~

(h'l
Q(ds)

"
0.2

0.'

30

"

1.1

60

1.5

"1.8 '"

, , ,

"5 13O 135

"

2.2

2.3

'00 200 500 800 700 550 <50 250 '50

Probl.ml 1.19 "lj/i~t:S ,Il~ romfnll f,om

P,obl~m

2.5

" "
'00

13

"

I.la

1.2". If tile gross ra infall of Problem 1.28 falls o'er a wa le Jshed with area of 1600
acres. find the yo lume that ....as left to infill ralion (usumc e~apo rat ioll CD n be
nq~Ie.::1 cd) bn~ed on the ~0 1u11le und~r t ht hydIOJV" ph.
E~alllple I frOIll the case study o n Jones Creek for Subbasin C (!ICe
Power l'oin t on 1c~ t book wch!;.ite). The base flow fO<" Subbasin C is 2OOefs. In
lKkli lKln. the initia l infil1ra tion for tile first hour is I in and a constant infiltra_
tion of 0.5 in 1hereaf1er. The ~ 'orm hydrograpb and rai nfall h)ctogrnph fo r
Subbasin C arc Ili,en in Fi gures P L- 3Oa and P I-JOb.

1.JO. Rework

Hydrolog iC: Pr inciples

71
figur. Pl-3Oa

lIydro~np~

lor SuW-t. C

, , , ,
nllle Ihr)

,
,
~
.J
,
~ 0>
,
~

" " "

Figur. Pl-3Ob

K r.1I h~Of:",.b
(S"''-InCI

2.~

J.~

Thno 'hr)

C. 0 .. 20((1. MeleorolV8Y T(J(/"Y: A" InrrQ(/licrio" 10 W<,mlter. Climllle. ",,,I

lit,. EndromllflJi. 611t cd .. Brooks/Colc. Paci fic Gw,c. CA.

AJlRE,",S.

A ... ntf-S. R. A . 1997. Mcrcorology. 711t cd . Pre ll' icc Hall . Ui'P"r Saddle River. NJ.

BEUlE]'l'. P. B. H. RIVAl. and C. NEWELL. 1999. Ground lVale, Ccm"mlllDtio,L' TrollS'

poflilmi Relne/tilliion. 2nd cd .. Prentice

~Iall

PTR. Upper Saddle River. NJ.

BEDlrR ' . P. B .. B. C Hoaul". D . C. GLI\"w~I.L. and B. E. VIWX. 21.XXJ. "NEXRAD Radar for Flood ]>~dJclion in 11olJ'jlOn.~ ASC 1. 1I)"lroioS" E"S .. J(3). pp. 269-277.
BEDIENT. P. R . 1\, IloLOE~. J. A. BF.roAvlUf.s.and n, E. VIEUX. 2003. ~ Rlldar- Ba>ed
Rood WHming Sy~lc m Applied '0 T ropical Slorm Allison:' ASCE 1. Hydrvlvgic
ng.. 8(6). p p. 3OS-318.
P. It. A !-Iowu. J. F. T HO... I'SOf'I. aoo Z. fAroG. 2007. "Modc tingofStormWaler Response under Largc Tailwatcr Conditions: Cas..: Study (or t he Tcxas
MedICal Center. " ASC E 1. Hydrologic E"g.. 12(3). pp. 256-266.

BEDlE~'.

BeJW~. R. P .. I964, ~Whalls Watershed Runoff?" I. Geoplt)'s. Res" 69. pp. 154 1-155 1.
I3tsWAs. A. K.. 1912. Hisloryo/ H)'drolo8Y. North Hollaoo Publishing Co .. Amsterdam.

REFERfNCES

72

Choplel' 1
CHM'U. S. C . 1997. Sur/au lV,lI('(-Q,mlily M ot/t:ling. McGrawl liII . New Yorl: .
C UARBENI!AU. R . J . 2OJO.

GWllnd'>"a'I" Jlydr'lIIliqa"d PoIlmlml l'rmupon, Prentice

Hall, Upper Soddle Rive r, NJ.

CflEZY, 1169, referred 10 in ROUSE. H .. HO(] S. ' Nell. 1957. fHSI()FY of i1)'d",,,}ics, low"

Instit ute of H ydr~u l ic Rese arch. Slale Unive rsity of Iowa.

OIOW, V. T . (Ed.), 1964. 1IU11111wu1i. of ApI'lied lIydr%g)'. McG ra w. Hill , New York.
Cl.UIII. T. D.. and R. L. AL8 E~. 1993, -'The wSR 88D and tile wS R-88D Operational Support Faci lit y: Hult. Am. M tltOrolw;kol Soc.. 17(9), pp. 1669-1681.
D1N(;lotAN. S. L . 2002. Ph)'sica/ Hy drO/P8Y, 2nd I'd . Prentice Hall , Uppe r Saddle
Rh'"" NJ.
FAl<G, Z .o Bf>DlEl<T. P. B.o and BUl:ClJGuVl'..N. It 201 1, ~Long-Term I't;rformance of 11
Flood A lert Sys tem ami Upgmdc (0 FAS3: A 1'l oU5100 Tc~ asCasc Sludy~, ASCE
J. /lydrolo!)ir: ElIg!., 16( 10), pp. 818-828.
FETTEM. C. W., 1999. COII/{,m;Ilam lIydrogtology. 2nd e d .. Pr<:n licc Hall , Upper
Saddle Ri,e r. NJ.
FULTo)!. R. A . J . ... BREI DENBACH . D . Sro. pml D. A . MIU.I:I, 1998. "TIIe WSR-88D
Rainfall A lgorilhm .~ W~Q. Fonca.r/ill8, IJ, pp. 3n-395.
GI~EN. w . 1-1 . and G. A . A .... I'T, 1911. "Studies of Soill'l1 )"SH:s, 1: The Flow of Air
and W~ t er Th rough Soils." 1. Agric. Sci .. 4(1 ). Pl'. 1-24.
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