.

Evaporation, one of the major processes in the cycle, is the transfer of water
from the surface of the Earth to the atmosphere. By evaporation, water in
the liquid state is transferred to the gaseous, or vapour, state. This transfer
occurs when some molecules in a water mass have attained sufficient kinetic
energy to eject themselves from the water surface. The main factors affecting
evaporation are temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation. The
direct measurement of evaporation, though desirable, is difficult and possible
only at point locations. The principal source of water vapour is the oceans, but
evaporation also occurs in soils, snow, and ice. Evaporation from snow and
ice, the direct conversion from solid to vapour, is known as
sublimation. Transpiration is the evaporation of water through minute pores, or
stomata, in the leaves of plants. For practical purposes, transpiration and the
evaporation from all water, soils, snow, ice, vegetation, and other surfaces are
lumped together and called evapotranspiration, or total evaporation.

Water vapour is the primary form of atmospheric moisture. Although its storage in the
atmosphere is comparatively small, water vapour is extremely important in forming
the moisture supply for dew, frost, fog, clouds, and precipitation. Practically all water
vapour in the atmosphere is confined to the troposphere (the region below 6 to 8 miles
[10 to 13 km] altitude).

The transition process from the vapour state to the liquid state is
called condensation. Condensation may take place as soon as
the air contains more water vapour than it can receive from a free water
surface through evaporation at the prevailing temperature. This condition
occurs as the consequence of either cooling or the mixing of air masses of
different temperatures. By condensation, water vapour in the atmosphere is
released to form precipitation.
Precipitation that falls to the Earth is distributed in four main ways: some is
returned to the atmosphere by evaporation, some may be intercepted by
vegetation and then evaporated from the surface of leaves,
some percolates into the soil by infiltration, and the remainder flows directly as
surface runoff into the sea. Some of the infiltrated precipitation may
later percolateinto streams as groundwater runoff. Direct measurement of
runoff is made by stream gauges and plotted against time on hydrographs.
Most groundwater is derived from precipitation that has percolated through the
soil. Groundwater flow rates, compared with those of surface water, are very
slow and variable, ranging from a few millimetres to a few metres a day.
Groundwater movement is studied by tracer techniques and remote sensing.
Ice also plays a role in the water cycle. Ice and snow on the Earth’s surface
occur in various forms such as frost, sea ice, and glacier ice. When soil
moisture freezes, ice also occurs beneath the Earth’s surface, forming
permafrost in tundra climates. About 18,000 years ago glaciers and ice caps
covered approximately one-third of the Earth’s land surface. Today about 12
percent of the land surface remains covered by ice masses.

Definition and Scope of Hydrology:

Hydrology is the science that deals with all aspects of
the water available on the earth. It includes study of
occurrence of water, its properties, its distribution
and circulation and also its effects on the living
beings and their surroundings. It is not entirely a
pure science because it has many practical
applications and it utilizes knowledge of other
sciences greatly.
Broadly, the whole subject matter can be expressed
in the form of a mathematical equation.
The equation is:
P = R + L or
Precipitation = Runoff + Losses
In the above equation precipitation indicates total
supply of water from all forms of falling moisture
and mainly includes rainfall and snowfall. The runoff
represents surplus water that flows over the surface
to join some river or sea.
ADVERTISEMENTS:

The term losses includes that portion of water which

goes to atmosphere and underground by the
processes like evaporation and percolation
respectively. For practical reasons hydrology does
not cover all studies- of oceans and medical uses of
water.
After studying this equation with the background of
hydrologic cycle it will be clear that the term losses
never implies that this water is lost and cannot be
used again. It is the water which temporarily
disappears from view (e.g., evaporation, seepage,
etc.) and given favourable conditions, reappears to
perform various duties. Hence, it is necessary to
study all the three terms of the equation, namely
rainall, runoff, and losses.
The subject of hydrology mainly involves:
i. Assessment of catchment rainfall;
ii. Assessment of dependable flow;
iii. Design flood computations for safety of hydraulic
structures;
iv. Assessment of losses; and
v. Calculation of useful life and capacity of
reservoirs.
History of Development:
The modern science of hydrology may be considered
to have begun with measurements of rainfall,
evaporation, river discharge by area-velocity method
etc. From these measurements which started in 17th
century scientists were able to draw correct
conclusions on the observed hydrological
phenomenon. The advent of hydrology cannot,
however, be said to be only since 17th century. In
fact concept of hydrological cycle was professed by
many philosophers from time immemorial.
The chronology of various phases of
development of the science of hydrology can
be broadly visualized as follows:
i. Speculation of concepts — up to 14th century
ii. Observations — 15th to 16th century
iii. Measurements — 17th century
iv. Experimentations — 18th century
v. Modernisation — 19th century
vi. Quantification of empirical formulae — 1900 to
1930
vii. Rationalisation of hydrologic theory — 1930 to
1950
viii. Theorization by mathematical analysis — 1950
to date
Although up to the end of 14th century hydrological
concepts were only speculated many hydraulic
structures were constructed. The great works known
in the history are the Abassinian wells, the Persian
kanats, the Egyptian and Chinese irrigation systems,
the water supply and drainage systems of Indus
valley, the Roman aqueducts, Chinese flood control
works etc. These were naturally constructed on the
basis of the practical knowledge of hydrology though
it was not widely enunciated.
In the subsequent two centuries the trends of mere
speculation changed to close observation. During
this period Leonardo da Vinci recognized the
hydrological cycle as is accepted today. The
seventeenth century saw development of techniques
for measurements of rainfall, evaporation, river
discharge etc., which provided documented proof of
the principle of hydrological cycle. Names of Pierre
Perrault and Edme Mariotte are noteworthy in this
context.
In the eighteenth century numbers of hydraulic
experimental studies in the field of hydrology were
performed. As a result various hydraulic principles
were discovered. Notable among them are Bernoullis
piezometer, the Borda tube, the Pitot tube,
Bernoulli’s theorem, Chezy’s formula etc. These
developments vastly contributed towards taking up
of quantitative hydrologic studies.
In the nineteenth century the experimental studies
were greatly modernised. All these activities laid a
firm base of modern science of hydrology. Majority
of the contributions were related to groundwater
hydrology and surface water measurement. Darcy’s
law of groundwater flow, Dupit’s well formula,
Hagen-Poiseuille’s equation of capillary flow,
Francis weir discharge formula. Ganguillet and
Kutter’s determination of Chezy’s coefficient.
Manning’s flow formula, development of price
current-meter, Dalton’s law are some of the notable
developments of this century.
Upto the end of the nineteenth century the science of
hydrology was largely empirical. It was so because
the physical basis for many quantitative hydrologic
determination was not well known. The selection of
coefficients and parameters to be used in empirical
formulae had to depend upon experience and
judgement. Thus, ad-hocism in hydrology became
more evident. In the first three decades of the
twentieth century increasing hydrological
investigations were taken up for advancement of the
science of hydrology.
During the period from 1930 to 1950 many great
hydrologists emerged who gave rational basis to
solve hydrological problems in place of empirical
solutions. To name a few, Sherman gave unit
hydrograph theory, Horton gave method of
determining rainfall excess on the basis of
infiltration theory, Gumbel proposed the use of
extreme value distribution for frequency analysis,
Einstein developed the bed-load function for use in
the theoretical analysis of sedimentation problems.
Since 1950, increasingly theoretical approaches have
been adopted in hydrologic problems. Now such
problems are readily subjected to mathematical
analysis. With the development of computers
solution of complicated mathematical hydrologic
theories has become a reality.
Application in Engineering:
Success of any water resources development project
depends on timely and sufficient availability of
water. Naturally proper assessment of this natural
resource assumes great importance. By assessment
we try to know in detail from where the resource
comes, where it goes, at what time or when it comes
and how much of it is really available.

Therefore, hydrological investigations form the first

step in any water resources development scheme
involving design, construction and operation of
hydraulic structures. The history of hydraulic
structures which have failed shows that majority of
failures is due to insufficient hydrological analysis
done while the structures were designed and
constructed rather than due to structural weakness.
The cost of collecting sufficient hydrological data
and its analysis constitutes an insignificant part of
the total cost of the water resources development
project but it ensures successful operation and life of
the project and therefore becomes indispensible
activity.
Although water is one of the most vital natural
resources sometimes it brings destruction by way of
storms and floods. An engineer is expected to
forecast floods, to assure adequate storage capacity
for irrigation, hydropower generation, industrial and
domestic water supply, flood control etc.
The practical applications of the knowledge
of hydrology are the following:
i. Peak flow and future conditions of flow, at any
point in the drainage valley can be correctly
estimated for any basin or area.
ii. Spillway capacity can be accurately designed by
estimating design flood.
iii. Design of river training work is facilitated.
iv. Dependable yields from the stream for generation
of hydroelectric power can be calculated.
v. Water supply to township and sewerage schemes
can be properly designed.
vi. Water resources account of a river basin can be
prepared.
vii. Reservoir capacity can be determined accurately.
viii. Operation of reservoirs can be done in an
efficient manner.
Hydrology
the science that studies natural waters and the phenomena and processes occurring in them. As a geoph
ysical science,hydrology is in close contact with the sciences of geographic, geologic, and biological cycle
s.

The subject matter of hydrology is bodies of water—

that is, oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, swamps, andaccumulations of moisture in the form of snow
cover, glaciers, and soil and subterranean waters. The main problems ofpresent-
day hydrology are to investigate the hydrologic cycle and the influence on it of human activity, as well as t
he controlof the regimen of bodies of water and the stream-flow regimen of territories; to perform space-
time analyses of hydrologicelements (water level, discharge, temperature, and so on) for individual territor
ies and the earth as a whole; and to discoverpatterns in the variations of these elements. The principal pr
actical application of hydrology is in the evaluation of the presentstate of water resources, in forecasting t
heir future state, and in laying the basis for their rational utilization.
Based on the specific characteristics of bodies of water and of the methods of their study, hydrology is div
ided intooceanography (hydrology of the sea), land hydrology (hydrology proper; more precisely, hydrolog
y of the surface water ofland), and hydrogeology (hydrology of subterranean water).
Hydrology initially developed as a branch of physical geography, hydraulic engineering, geology, and navi
gation and tookshape as a system of scientific knowledge only at the beginning of the 20th century. A defi
nition of hydrology as a sciencewas provided by V. G. Glushkov in 1915. A large role in the formation of h
ydrology was played by the establishment in 1919of the State Hydrologic Institute. Present-
day hydrology makes wide use of methods employed in geography, physics, andother sciences, and the r
ole of mathematical methodology is steadily increasing.